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PearOS Brings Mac-Level Polish to Any Aging Laptop for Free

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PearOS macOS Linux Distro
Old laptops have a habit of ending up in a drawer the moment manufacturers stop supporting them, left to gather dust while modern software demands more than they can comfortably give. PearOS exists to change that. It’s a free operating system that breathes new life into neglected hardware, bringing a Mac-like experience complete with a familiar menu bar, a clean dock, and smooth gestures to machines that most people had written off. The latest release, built on Arch Linux and going by the name NiceC0re, is designed to make everyday tasks feel effortless on exactly the kind of hardware that usually gets left behind.



Fire it up for the first time and the Mac influences are impossible to miss. A top menu bar greets you with a stylish pear emblem in place of the Apple logo, and the dock below bounces and magnifies icons in exactly the way you would expect. The full screen app launcher is a dead ringer for Launchpad, complete with categories and smooth animations, and the search tool does a convincing impression of Spotlight, pulling up files, apps, and settings in a matter of seconds. The attention to detail goes well beyond the surface level too. The cursor grows larger when you shake it, discreet pop-up indicators let you know when your microphone or screen sharing is active, and countless other small touches will feel instantly familiar to anyone who has spent time on a Mac. PearOS has clearly set out to recreate that experience as faithfully as possible, just without the price tag that usually comes with it.


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PearOS macOS Linux Distro
The settings menu is laid out in clean, organized columns that anyone who has used a recent version of macOS will navigate without a second thought, with display, sound, and network options all sitting exactly where you would expect them. A few corners are still being tidied up, with certain sections marked as coming soon, but the essentials including brightness, volume, night mode, and power all work exactly as they should. The file manager, PearFinder, rounds things out nicely, taking the bones of a typical Linux tool and wrapping it in a polished new interface complete with the sidebar and preview window.

PearOS macOS Linux Distro
There is also a browser called Pafari that gets about as close to Safari as you reasonably can without outright copying it, complete with clean tabs, a minimal address bar, and all the usual trimmings. Music playback, photo viewing, and screen capture come preinstalled and ready to go as well, all running on familiar Linux foundations but dressed up with Mac-style icons and fonts that tie the whole experience together.

PearOS macOS Linux Distro
Getting started is straightforward enough. Download the roughly three gigabyte file from the PearOS website, burn it to a USB drive, and boot up your laptop. The custom installer is built with modern web technology and walks you through each step in plain, clear language, so prior Linux experience is not a requirement. You will need to make a couple of decisions along the way, including which graphics driver to use and whether to go with the latest NVIDIA option or an open source alternative. It is also worth noting that a full wipe of the hard drive is required, so backing up your data beforehand and having a dedicated machine or virtual setup in mind is strongly recommended. After that the installer takes care of the rest, and the whole process should be wrapped up in under an hour on most systems.

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Inventor of the Jetson ONE Personal eVTOL Takes it Out for a Test Flight Along the California Coast

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Jetson ONE eVTOL California Coast Beach Test Flight
Tomasz Patan took off from his own driveway in a Jetson ONE eVTOL, heading straight out to sea. Soon, he was flying low over the cliffs of Pismo Beach, following the coastline and headed directly over the pier, and the view most certainly stole his breath away as he made his way down the shoreline, passing a beach restaurant he’d flown over many times before.



Surfers were in the sea below, and the entire coastline was laid out in all its grandeur before him. Patan later described the view as one he would never forget, as the marathon brought him from Pismo Beach to Grover Beach, where hundreds had gathered to watch him pass by. Local groups had secured for all of the essential permissions from a variety of different organizations, which required some effort but ultimately paid off.


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Jetson ONE eVTOL California Coast Test Flight
Without a runway or airport to worry about, he could plot the most direct route possible and just go. The flight itself was straightforward, a short hop from his house to a familiar stretch of coastline where the Pacific was doing its usual thing, waves rolling in against the rocks and sand with the hills and houses of the shoreline sitting quietly in the background. The Jetson ONE just did its thing without a hitch, unbothered by the wind or weather throughout.

Jetson ONE eVTOL California Coast Test Flight
The Jetson ONE runs on eight electric motors driving eight individual blades, all wrapped in an aluminum and carbon fiber frame that keeps the total weight down to around 254 pounds with the batteries fitted. The open cockpit can accommodate a pilot of up to 209 pounds, and from there you get roughly 20 minutes of flight time before needing to touch down again. Top speed is around 63 mph, though most flights never push anywhere near that. Control comes down to a single four axis joystick, which keeps things refreshingly simple, and the high discharge lithium ion batteries deliver plenty of power throughout. Recharging from a standard wall socket takes just a few hours, and when you’re done the whole thing folds down neatly for storage.

Jetson ONE eVTOL California Coast Test Flight
Patan began working on the Jetson ONE in 2017, and now oversees production from a separate factory. So far, they’ve received more than 650 orders totaling nearly $100 million. They are planning their first 100 deliveries for next year and are already accepting bookings for 2028. A full airframe parachute system is included as standard, which is a true lifesaver in the event of an emergency, and it also complies with all ultralight vehicle regulations, which is a good thing.

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Seniors ballot every week just to play mahjong with young S’poreans

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At Mahjong Together, generations meet over tiles, conversation, and friendly rivalry

On Sunday afternoons at Toa Payoh West Community Club, mahjong tiles clack steadily across the room as players shuffle stacks into walls and call out their moves.

At each table, four players lean forward in concentration—scanning their tiles, calculating their next move, and occasionally pausing to trade friendly jabs across the table.

But the tables here bring together a unique mix of players.

Across from a retired uncle might sit a junior college student. An auntie in her seventies might be teaching a teenager the finer points of reading discarded tiles.

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They have gathered here for Mahjong Together, a youth-led initiative that brings seniors and young volunteers together over one of Singapore’s most recognisable games—and it’s grown so popular that seniors have to ballot every week just to get a seat.

Mahjong Together was started by a group of four students

Mahjong Together first began in 2021, started by four students from Dunman High School who wanted to do more for their community. Inspired by stories of senior isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, they set out to create meaningful, intergenerational interaction.

Today, the programme is run by a committee of 15 youths, mostly students, who rotate annually and manage its operations, outreach, and volunteer recruitment.

Each session pairs 24 youth volunteers with 24 elderly participants for three hours of mahjong, with no money involved.

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Image Credit: Mahjong Together

Youth volunteers (Mahjong Together currently accepts those aged 15 to 30) are recruited monthly via online sign-ups, with about 70 to 90 participants joining each month. Sessions are held most regularly on Sunday afternoons at Toa Payoh West Community Club, though they occasionally take place at other community clubs, active ageing centres, and care homes across Singapore.

What makes Mahjong Together distinctive is its simplicity.

There are no structured lessons, formal service activities, or strict agendas. Instead, the game itself becomes the bridge between generations. Four players at a table, a wall of tiles to build, and three hours of conversation and strategy create a natural space for intergenerational bonding.

Its popularity highlights the programme’s success: by 2025, sessions were frequently oversubscribed, prompting the introduction of a ballot system to give more people a fair chance to attend.

More than just a game

Seniors who have attended the sessions speak highly of the experience.

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“I’m very happy when I get the chance to play,” said 73-year-old retiree Kong Yoke Kew in an interview with the Straits Times. He had been attending Mahjong Together at Toa Payoh West Community Club for two years. “I look forward to it every week.”

The sessions are as beneficial as they are enjoyable.

For seniors, they provide a reason to leave the house and engage with the community, helping to combat social isolation. Mahjong also doubles as a mental workout, exercising memory, pattern recognition, and strategic thinking.

Meanwhile, youth volunteers gain insight into older generations, hearing stories from decades past and perspectives rarely encountered in school. For many, that sense of connection and community keeps them coming back week after week, long after their first session.

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Unlike structured intergenerational programmes, Mahjong Together fosters interaction naturally. Seniors and youth sit as equals at the same table, playing, exchanging tips, and sharing stories over the course of the game.

As Singapore’s population ages, the country doesn’t just need more hospitals—it needs more spaces like this, where people of different generations can meet, connect, and spend time together.

  • Find out more about Mahjong Together here.
  • Read other articles we’ve written about Singapore’s current affairs here.

Featured Image Credit: Mahjong Together

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How GoHighLevel is simplifying agency software stacks

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The average marketing agency juggles between six and 12 different software tools to manage clients: one for email, another for CRM, a third for funnels, something else for scheduling, a separate platform for reputation management, and probably a spreadsheet holding the whole thing together. Every new client means another round of logins, another integration to maintain, and another monthly bill that chips away at margins. It is a problem that gets worse the more successful you become.

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GoHighLevel, also known as HighLevel, has spent the past few years building something that the marketing agency world has quietly been asking for: a single platform that replaces the patchwork. CRM, email marketing, SMS, funnel builder, appointment scheduling, reputation management, invoicing, and now AI-powered automation, all under one roof. The pitch is straightforward. Instead of paying for seven tools and spending half your week switching between them, you pay for one and get your evenings back.

What makes the platform interesting is not just the feature list (plenty of tools promise everything). It is the architecture. GoHighLevel was designed from the ground up for agencies managing multiple clients simultaneously. Every client gets their own sub-account with completely isolated data, branding, and workflows. On the Unlimited plan, there is no cap on how many of these sub-accounts you can create. That means your software cost stays flat whether you are managing five clients or fifty.

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The feature that tends to convert sceptical agency owners is the white-label capability. GoHighLevel lets you rebrand the entire platform: your logo, your colours, your custom domain. Clients interact with what looks and feels like your proprietary software. They never see GoHighLevel’s name.

This matters for two reasons. First, it strengthens your agency’s brand perception considerably. Clients who log into “your” platform daily develop a stickier relationship with your agency than clients who know you are just configuring someone else’s tool. Second, and more tangibly, the SaaS Pro plan ($497/month) lets you resell the platform as your own branded software product, complete with custom pricing tiers and automated client billing. Some agencies have turned this into a standalone revenue stream, effectively running a software company on top of their services business.

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If you want to explore whether this model works for your agency, GoHighLevel offers a free trial of the SaaS Pro plan so you can test the white-label setup, client billing tools, and branded mobile app before committing.

What is actually inside the box

Rather than listing every feature (there are hundreds), here is what agencies tend to use most heavily once they are past the initial setup:

  • Unified inbox: SMS, email, phone calls, Facebook Messenger, Instagram DMs, Google Business messages, and WhatsApp conversations all land in one feed per client. No more switching tabs to check where a lead last responded.
  • Workflow automation: Visual, drag-and-drop workflows that trigger based on form fills, appointment bookings, pipeline stage changes, or custom events. These can be templated and cloned across client accounts in minutes.
  • Funnel and website builder: Drag-and-drop page builder for landing pages, full websites, and multi-step funnels. Not the most sophisticated builder on the market, but competent enough that most agencies no longer need a separate tool.
  • Reputation management: Automated review request sequences via SMS and email, centralised review monitoring across Google and Facebook, and AI-powered review responses.
  • AI Employees: A relatively new addition. Voice AI handles inbound and outbound phone calls with natural-sounding agents. Conversation AI manages chat and SMS responses in real time. Reviews AI automates reputation responses. Content AI assists with copy generation. These are billed either per usage or through an unlimited add-on at $97/month per sub-account.
  • Appointment scheduling: Built-in calendar with automated reminders via SMS and email. Supports round-robin booking across team members and integrates directly with the CRM pipeline.

The honest trade-off is depth vs. breadth. GoHighLevel’s email editor is not as polished as Mailchimp’s. Its CRM reporting does not match HubSpot’s. The landing page builder will not impress anyone coming from Webflow. But the compound value of having everything in one system, with shared data and unified automation, tends to outweigh the individual feature gaps for agencies running at scale.

The pricing that actually matters

GoHighLevel runs three tiers. The Starter plan at $97/month includes three sub-accounts, making it suitable for solo operators or agencies with a small client roster. The Unlimited plan at $297/month removes the sub-account cap entirely (unlimited clients, unlimited contacts). The SaaS Pro plan at $497/month adds white-label mobile apps, SaaS resale tools, and automated client billing infrastructure.

Annual billing brings those numbers down by roughly 20 per cent: $970/year for Starter, $2,970/year for Unlimited, and $4,970/year for SaaS Pro. For agencies that have already decided GoHighLevel fits their workflow, the annual billing option is the most cost-effective route.

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One thing worth noting: the base subscription covers the platform, but usage-based charges sit on top. LC Phone (the built-in telephony), LC Email, and AI tool credits are all billed separately based on consumption. For most agencies, these add $50 to $200/month depending on volume, but it is worth factoring in when comparing the total cost against your current stack.

Who this is (and is not) for

GoHighLevel works best for marketing agencies that manage five or more clients, rely heavily on lead generation and nurture workflows, and want to consolidate their tech stack. It is particularly strong for agencies serving local businesses (dentists, plumbers, realtors, restaurants) where reputation management, appointment scheduling, and automated follow-ups drive client results.

It is less suited for agencies that specialise in enterprise accounts requiring deep CRM customisation, ecommerce agencies that need native Shopify or WooCommerce integrations at the Klaviyo level, or solo consultants who only need a basic email tool. If you fall into any of those categories, a more specialised platform will likely serve you better.

For everyone else, the consolidation play is compelling. Replacing a $50/month email tool, a $30/month scheduler, a $100/month CRM, a $80/month funnel builder, and a $40/month reputation tool with a single $297/month subscription is not just simpler. It is often cheaper, and the unified data layer makes your automation significantly more effective.

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The learning curve is real (plan for two to four weeks of proper setup time), but agencies that push through the initial configuration tend to stay. GoHighLevel’s reported churn rate is notably low for a SaaS platform in this price range, which suggests that the value becomes clear once you are actually running client campaigns inside it.

Prices and features are subject to change. Please verify current details on GoHighLevel’s website before purchasing.

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Pixelpaw Labs’ Phase Delivers Mouse Precision and Controller Comfort in One Split Device

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Pixelpaw Labs Phase Mouse Controller Split Device
If you spend your days at a desk and your evenings on the couch, chances are you have two completely separate sets of gear to show for it. Pixelpaw Labs thinks that’s one too many, and the Phase is their answer to the problem, a single wireless device that handles both without asking you to compromise on either



At first glance the Phase looks like a perfectly ordinary mouse sitting on your desk, symmetrical and unremarkable in all the right ways. Give it a firm tug though and the whole thing splits cleanly down the middle along a set of nearly invisible seams held together by strong magnets. What you’re left with are two independent controllers, each packing a thumbstick, a directional pad, face buttons, and a pair of triggers on the back, ready to go the moment you sink into the couch.


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The gaming controls tuck away completely when the Phase is assembled, leaving you with something that looks and behaves like a standard desktop mouse with no hint of what’s hiding inside. The base provides plenty of stability and keeps the whole thing planted firmly on the mat. Tracking comes courtesy of a 16,000 DPI optical sensor on the right half, which should satisfy even the more demanding users. In place of a traditional scroll wheel there is a slim capacitive strip running along the left click button, letting you slide or tap through documents and web pages in a way that feels surprisingly intuitive. Two additional buttons sit at the outer corners of the primary clicks for extra functionality without making things feel busy, and the Omron switches behind the main clicks are crisp and satisfying with every press.

PixelPaw Labs Phase Mouse Controller Split Device
Split it apart and the full controller layout reveals itself, a directional pad and face buttons on one side with mirrored controls on the other. The thumbsticks feel smooth and precise thanks to Alps Alpine components, and the triggers use Hall Effect sensors which should keep them feeling just as good years down the line. Each half also has a dedicated Layer button that effectively doubles your available inputs by assigning a second function to every other control, and once you start mapping things out you might be surprised by just how much the Phase can handle.

Connectivity is equally well thought out whether you’re using it as a mouse or a controller. Bluetooth lets you pair the Phase with up to three devices at once, covering computers, phones, and tablets, and if you need the lowest possible lag there is a 2.4 gigahertz dongle option for PC. It plays nicely with just about every platform going, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, with no extra adapters required. A USB-C port on the left half takes care of charging when the battery starts to run low, and with a claimed 72 hours of life on a single charge, that shouldn’t need to happen very often.

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PixelPaw Labs Phase Mouse Controller Split Device
The free companion app PixelPlay is where things get really interesting. All eighteen buttons are fully remappable, the sensor speed is adjustable, multiple profiles can be saved, and firmware updates are handled right there in the app. Profiles switch over automatically when you connect to a new device or flip between mouse and controller mode, which means there is nothing to manually configure every time you move between setups. No extra hardware, no fuss, just slip it into your pocket or bag and you’re ready to go.

For travelers there is an optional add-on called Phasegrip that takes things a step further. The small clip attaches each half of the Phase to the edges of your smartphone, turning the whole setup into a self contained mobile gaming rig in one neat package. It extends out just like a familiar handheld controller, letting you jump straight into Steam titles or mobile games without juggling separate pieces. The bundle costs a little more, but everything stays compact enough to disappear into a backpack without a second thought.

PixelPaw Labs Phase Mouse Controller Split Device
Pixelpaw Labs has set the full retail price at $159, but getting in early makes a meaningful difference. Early backers can reserve a unit for $115 with a $20 deposit, locking in a 15% discount ahead of the Kickstarter launch. Production is set to kick off once the necessary hardware inspections, molds, and certifications are all squared away, with delivery expected sometime in late 2026 or early 2027.
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Roborock Saros 20: When robot cleaning moves beyond power to real intelligence

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Robot vacuum cleaners have evolved rapidly over the past decade. Early models focused mainly on basic automation – moving around a home and cleaning floors with minimal input. But as homes become more complex, simply offering stronger suction or longer battery life is no longer enough. What homeowners increasingly want is a system that can understand its environment and make intelligent decisions about cleaning.

That shift toward smarter automation is exactly what Roborock is aiming to achieve with its latest flagship robot vacuum, the Roborock Saros 20. Designed for modern homes with mixed flooring, carpets, thresholds, and dense furniture layouts, the Saros 20 focuses less on raw hardware performance and more on real-world intelligence and navigation accuracy. The system allows the robot to adapt its cleaning behavior dynamically based on different environments and floor types.

From Powerful Robots to Intelligent Home Systems

Traditional robot vacuums often struggle in real homes. Carpets can confuse navigation systems, thresholds interrupt cleaning cycles, and cluttered rooms make mapping difficult. The Saros 20 approaches these challenges differently by combining advanced sensing technologies with adaptive hardware designed to interpret its surroundings before taking action.

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Rather than simply executing a cleaning route, the robot continuously evaluates its environment and determines the most effective way to clean. That could mean adjusting its height for different surfaces, avoiding obstacles more precisely, or returning to areas that need additional attention.

This approach represents a shift in how robotic cleaning systems are evolving – from simple automation tools to intelligent home systems capable of strategic decision-making.

StarSight Autonomous System 2.0: Faster Mapping and Smarter Navigation

At the core of the Saros 20 is StarSight Autonomous System 2.0, Roborock’s latest navigation platform. Unlike many traditional robot vacuums that rely on laser-based LDS navigation, the Saros 20 uses a 3D Time-of-Flight (ToF) vision system with dual transmitters and solid-state sensing.

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This system samples the environment at a much higher frequency than earlier laser-based technologies, allowing the robot to build home maps faster while maintaining high accuracy around thin furniture legs, suspended cabinets, and cluttered spaces.

The improved system also enhances positioning accuracy. According to Roborock, the Saros 20 AI obstacle recognition system can detect more than 300 types of objects and identify obstacles only a few centimetres in size. This enables the robot to avoid collisions more effectively while maintaining consistent coverage across the home.

The robot can also localize itself more precisely inside a room, allowing it to recover quickly if moved and maintain orientation even in low-light environments where traditional vision systems often struggle.

AdaptiLift Chassis 3.0: Built for Complex Homes

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Modern homes often feature a mix of flooring surfaces, rugs, and raised thresholds that can challenge standard robot vacuums. To address this, Roborock has equipped the Saros 20 with AdaptiLift Chassis 3.0, an adaptive mobility system designed to handle difficult transitions.

The chassis can automatically raise itself to cross single-layer thresholds up to 4.5cm and double-layer thresholds up to 4.3cm, allowing the robot to move between rooms more smoothly.

Despite this capability, the Saros 20 maintains an ultra-slim 7.95cm body, enabling it to reach under beds, sofas, and low cabinets where dust often accumulates.

Smarter Edge Cleaning with VertiBeam

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Another challenge for robot vacuums is cleaning close to walls and furniture edges. The Saros 20 introduces VertiBeam lateral obstacle avoidance, which uses vertical structured light to eliminate side blind spots.

This technology allows the robot to navigate closer to walls and irregular furniture edges while maintaining safe clearance from obstacles, improving edge cleaning performance without increasing collision risks.

While intelligence and navigation are the focus of the Saros 20, cleaning performance remains a priority. The robot is powered by Roborock’s 36,000Pa HyperForce digital motor, the strongest suction rating in the company’s lineup to date.

The system is paired with dual spinning mops with adjustable downward pressure, allowing the robot to scrub floors more effectively. A dual anti-tangle brush system also helps prevent hair buildup, making the Saros 20 particularly suitable for homes with pets.

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Together, these features enable the robot to tackle both hard floors and carpets while maintaining consistent performance across different surfaces.

Built for the Complexity of Modern Homes

Roborock presents the Saros 20 as more than just another robot vacuum. By combining faster mapping, improved positioning accuracy, adaptive mobility, and intelligent obstacle recognition, the company is positioning the device as a next-generation autonomous cleaning system.

Instead of simply following preset routes, the Saros 20 is designed to interpret its surroundings and make smarter cleaning decisions in real time. For households with mixed flooring, complex layouts, and constantly changing environments, that level of intelligence could make robotic cleaning feel far more reliable and effortless.

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With the Saros 20, Roborock appears to be pushing the idea that the future of home cleaning isn’t just about stronger motors or bigger batteries – it’s about robots that truly understand the homes they clean.

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Firefly is getting rebooted as an animated series

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Firefly aired for just one season in 2002 before Fox canceled it. In the 24 years since, the sci-fi show has skyrocketed in popularity and now fans are finally getting more. Nathan Fillion has announced that an animated Firefly series is currently in advanced development, Deadline first reported.

Fillion shared the news at AwesomeCon during a live taping of his podcast Once We Were Spacemen with his Firefly co-stars Gina Torres, Morena Baccarin, Summer Glau, Sean Maher, Jewel Staite and Alan Tudyk. Tudyk co-hosts the podcast, in which the duo look back at their careers and interview past coworkers. Each of the actors present at AwesomeCon are expected to voice the animated versions of their characters.

This isn’t one of those maybe one day it will happen announcements, with many steps already being taken. The animated reboot is under the direction of showrunners Tara Butters (Agent Carter, Reaper) and Marc Guggenheim (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow) — original creator Joss Whedon is not involved, but has given his blessing. It has early concept art from ShadowMachine, an Oscar- and Emmy-winning animation studio. Fillion is producing the show through Collision33, his production company, and with 20th Television Animation. There’s even already a script in place.

According to Fillion, the one thing left is a home for the series. He and his co-stars took to Once We Were Spacemen‘s Instagram to provide more details and implore FireFly fans to show demand for the reboot.

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Firefly took place in 2517, centuries after a universal civil war. It followed a group of people living aboard a transport ship, Serenity, flying through the galaxy. In 2005, the show got a sequel in the form of a movie, Serenity.

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The IPV4 We Didn’t Get

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If you have ever read science fiction, you’ve probably seen “alternate history” stories. You know, where Europeans didn’t discover the New World until the 19th century, or the ancient Egyptians stumbled upon electricity. Maybe those things happened in an alternate universe. [BillPG] has an alternate history tale for us that imagines IPv6 was shot down and a protocol called IPv4x became prominent instead.

The key idea is that in 1993, the IP-Next-Generation working group could have decided that any solution that would break the existing network wouldn’t work. There is precedent. Stereo records play on mono players and vice versa. Color TV signals play on black and white sets just as well as black and white signals play on color TVs. It would have made perfect sense.

How could this be? The idea was to make everyone who “owns” an IPv4 address the stewards of a 96-bit sub-address block. IPv4x-aware equipment extracts the entire 128-bit address. IPv4-only equipment routes the packet to the controlling IPv4 address. Wasteful? Sure. Most people don’t need 79 octillion addresses. But if everyone has that many, then why not?

The fictional timeline has DNS and DHCP, along with dial-up stacks, changing to accommodate the new addresses. Again, you had to assume some parts of the network were still IPv4-only. DNS would return both addresses, and it was up to you to pick the IPv4x address if you understood it.

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Your ISP would probably not offer you the entire extra space. A regional router could handle all traffic for your neighborhood and then direct it to your specific 128-bit address or your pool of addresses, if you have multiple devices. No need for NAT to hide your devices, nor strange router configurations to punch traffic through.

Of course, back in the real world, we have two incompatible systems: IPv4 and IPv6. IPv6 adoption has been slow and painful. We wondered why [BillPG] wrote about this future that never was. Turns out, he’s proposed a gateway that IPv6 hosts can provide to allow access from IPv4-only networks. Pretty sneaky, but we can admire it. If reading all this makes you wonder what happened to IPv5, we wondered that, too.

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Netflix’s ‘Frankenstein’ wins three Oscars, ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ wins two

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Two Netflix films, “Frankenstein” and “KPop Demon Hunters,” won multiple Academy Awards tonight.

Director Guillermo del Toro’s reimagining of “Frankenstein” won for Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling, while Netflix’s most-watched movie ever “KPop Demon Hunters” won for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song.

In recent years, films produced and distributed by streaming companies have become a steady presence at the Oscars, with “Roma,” “The Power of the Dog,” and “All Quiet on the Western Front” winning major awards. However, the biggest prize seems to remain out of reach for Netflix — Apple’s “CODA,” released near the height of the pandemic, remains the only streaming film to win Best Picture.

Host Conan O’Brien even noted the presence of Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos at the beginning of the ceremony, joking, “This is exciting: It’s his first time in a theater!”

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“Frankenstein” was nominated for nine Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor. Netflix’s “Train Dreams” and Apple’s “F1” (which won for Best Sound) were also nominated Best Picture, but that award went to “One Battle After Another.”

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Hacker unveils exploit that cracks the "unbreakable" Xbox One at the silicon level

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The demonstration marks the first public, reproducible breach of the Xbox One’s hardware-level defenses, a milestone in console hacking that recalls the famous Reset Glitch Hack that compromised the Xbox 360 years earlier. But Gaasedelen’s technique goes deeper, operating below the software stack, against the boot ROM on the Xbox…
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Your HEMI Engine May Have 16 Spark Plugs (And For Good Reason)

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The HEMI nameplate has been practically synonymous with raw Chrysler horsepower since the 1960s, though the engine configuration itself dates back much farther. Named for its hemispherical combustion chamber, these engines feature inherently unique geometries: Valvetrains, pistons, and other components are all different to other layouts by design — combustion chambers are optimized for different purposes based on what’s expected of the engine. 

In the HEMI’s case, a hemispherical combustion chamber generates higher chamber pressures versus a a more typical pentroof chamber, meaning it burns all the fuel faster and hotter, pushing the piston down sooner. This gives more mechanical leverage on the crankshaft, thus producing more power for a given amount of fuel, at least in principle.

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It’s this unique configuration which leads to some interesting design choices with the HEMI’s cylinder head. Unlike a typical pentroof-shaped design, a HEMI uses a dome-shaped chamber with a rounded piston head, functionally increasing the surface area that the explosion pushes on and improving the engine’s volumetric efficiency. However, this increased surface area leads to a number of downsides, the notable ones here being heat and airflow. The more surface area there is, the faster heat dissipates. The airflow tends to get squashed in the sides of a traditional HEMI, which leads to poor efficiency. Moreover, the valves are huge; you simply cannot put a spark plug directly in the middle.

To solve this problem, modern HEMI designs incorporate two spark plugs on opposite ends of the combustion chamber. This ensures a more complete, even, and efficient burn across the entire chamber, as opposed to one centralized explosion which isn’t possible with the head design or airflow pattern. Let’s dive in and discuss how this works.

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Airflow and spark in modern HEMI engines

Right off the bat, why do modern HEMI engines have two spark plugs at all when you only need one, aside from the valvetrain? Simple: Modern HEMI engines aren’t actually hemi engines in the traditional sense, and that’s a good thing. As stated before, a true hemi head, while excellent for hotter loads (think high-performance applications), isn’t ideal for passing modern EPA standards. 

All those unburnt hydrocarbon emissions sitting so far away from the explosion, tucked away along the sides of the combustion chamber, eventually go out the exhaust and create too much pollutants. The solution Chrysler implemented was to modify the hemispherical chamber design into what’s best described as an oblong spheroid.

If you look at a HEMI piston head, you’ll notice grooves cut into the top. These are called quench pads, designed to swirl airflow in a certain predictable pattern. This allows the combustion process to occur more efficiently and cleanly, flowing like a river throughout the cylinder.

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Basically, you want the airflow to reach every part of the combustion chamber for the most efficient burn. It’s like a miniature wind tunnel — if you have a pocket that’s out of the way, it won’t get enough air, whereas other areas get too much airflow. The modern HEMI’s head is designed in such a way to minimize these areas, creating its own unique airflow pattern within the combustion chamber. In order to provide a complete and efficient burn, Chrysler implemented a dual spark plug orientation, with 16 spark plugs across eight cylinders.

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The valvetrain simply won’t allow it

One of the benefits of a hemi head is being able to fit larger valves; in the case of modern Gen III HEMIs, these valves are so large that there’s no physical space between them to fit a single spark plug. This means using two spark plugs on either side of the valves, which then necessitates different airflow for a complete burn with two spark plugs, and so on. In other words, this all revolves around the head design and the combustion event’s inconsistency within the domed shape.

Is the second spark plug even necessary, though? In the old days, hemispherical chambered engines have implemented various fixes for the inconsistent combustion event dilemma. Because the more domed you make the chamber, the more disrupted and awkward the combustion process becomes, engineers have attempted fitting different shaped pistons, specialized slots, different chamber and head coatings, and more. Conversely, a modern HEMI’s design differs from the original template in substantial ways, thanks to its more advanced piston configuration. Its coil-on-plug ignition system, coupled with the dual spark plug configuration, leads to a more consistent, reliable, and even burn.

Against the classic (single-plug) HEMI configuration, modern designs offer a far cleaner solution while still making good power. Granted, it might not have the same character as older HEMI designs, but let’s be real: you simply cannot produce such an inefficiently-burning design today and get away with it; the engine would simply produce too many hydrocarbon emissions. In that sense, yes, it’s absolutely worth the trade-off of buying the extra eight spark plugs when you go to change them on your 5.7-liter HEMI.

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