49ers, Browns Get Into Fight During Pregame Warmups
A pregame scrap.
2023-10-16 00:47
Shohei Ohtani scores 2 runs, Angels beat Tigers 7-6 in 10th after blowing lead in 9th
Shohei Ohtani had two walks and two runs, Mickey Moniak hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the 10th inning and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Detroit Tigers 7-6 on Tuesday night after blowing a four-run lead in the ninth inning
2023-07-26 11:30
Conditions at Guantanamo Bay are ‘cruel, inhuman and degrading’, UN report says
An investigation by a United Nations (UN) special rapporteur has determined that prisoners incarcerated at Guantánamo Bay are being held under conditions that are “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law.” The special rapporteur, University of Minnesota law professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, spent four days at Guantánamo Bay in February speaking with detainees, former detainees, and lawyers who have worked in and around the notorious facility located on the Cuban coast. Guantánamo Bay has long been notorious, seen by many on the left as a symbol of American disregard for the rule of law in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. A number of detainees have reported that they were tortured. But the special rapporteur’s report is a landmark: the first time an independent investigator from the UN has been allowed into Guantánamo Bay since the facility opened more than two decades ago. Since 2002, nearly 800 people have been held at the facility — the vast majority of them Muslim, the vast majority held without a charge or clear trial date. According to the American Civil Liberies Union (ACLU), 39 men remained indefinetely detained at the facility as of last year. Ms Ní Aoláin cited the use of solitary confinement, lack of healthcare, and the use of force against detainees as among the reasons conditions at the prison may even amount to torture. The Biden administration’s response to the investigative findings was largely defensive. In an official response to Ms Ní Aoláin submitted by Michèle Taylor, the ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council, the administration complimented itself for allowing Ms Ní Aoláin to access the facility and then minimised many of her findings. “The United States disagrees in significant respects with many factual and legal assertions the SR has made,” Ms Taylor wrote. “We are committed to providing safe and humane treatment for detainees at Guantanamo, in full accordance with international and U.S. domestic law. Detainees live communally and prepare meals together; receive specialized medical and psychiatric care; are given full access to legal counsel; and communicate regularly with family members.” Nevertheless, Ms Taylor wrote that the US is “nonetheless carefully reviewing the SR's recommendations and will take any appropriate actions, as warranted.” In her report, Ms Ní Aoláin outlined a number of areas in which the US could take action. One is regarding its the care it provides for detainees, a number of whom are suffering in Ms Ní Aoláin’s judgement from torture-induced trauma in addition to a range of permanent disabilities and chronic pain. Ms Ní Aoláin called on the US to establish an independent, civilian health care programme for detainees it has allegedly tortured through the years, and noted as well that US has failed to adequately address its use of torture against detainees at Guantánamo Bay. A number of organisations, including the ACLU have called on the US to close the facility completely. Former President Barack Obama announced a plan to close the facility in 2015, but failed to follow through. The Biden administration has also suggested it wants to eventually close the facility, though it has yet to happen. Read More I was a lawyer for Guantanamo detainees. Here’s why the allegations against Ron DeSantis matter Ron DeSantis watched me being tortured, former Guantanamo prisoner says Labor group requests ethics probe of Kentucky GOP gubernatorial candidate over campaign solicitation Marjorie Taylor Greene wants to impeach Biden for joke about selling ‘state secrets’ Bernardo Arévalo, Guatemala's electoral surprise, makes corruption fight top priority
2023-06-28 08:58
Dubai’s Latest Property Spree Has Rich Buyers Taking More Risk
On Dubai’s manmade island of Palm Jumeirah, soaring laser beams signal the latest outsized construction project getting started.
2023-06-22 09:19
Sudan army chief visits Egypt as deadly violence grips Darfur
Sudan's army chief travelled Tuesday to Egypt on his first trip abroad since the outbreak of war in April, with the latest violence killing dozens...
2023-08-29 17:18
Buddies behind bars: 'Happy face killer' Keith Jesperson brags about being pen pals with Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann
Keith Jesperson, currently serving multiple life sentences, imparted eyebrow-raising advice to Rex Heuermann
2023-11-24 19:16
Golden Knights beat Panthers 5-2 in Stanley Cup final game one
Zach Whitecloud scored the first of three third-period goals for the Vegas Golden Knights in a 5-2 victory over the Florida Panthers in game one of the NHL...
2023-06-04 11:47
'Too hot outside': Saudis take to walking, jogging in malls
The shops have not yet opened, but the air-conditioned concourse of a Riyadh shopping mall is crowded anyway -- a haven for walkers and joggers...
2023-10-26 11:52
Apple Watch: The major changes coming to your wrist this year – and why some of them might surprise you
This autumn, Apple releases watchOS 10, the tenth-generation software for the Apple Watch, which went on sale in Spring 2015. In that time, there have been big developments in hardware, including the addition of an always-on display, Watches that connect direct to the mobile phone network, health advances like ECG, blood oxygen measurements, fall detection and more. And the software has been upgraded hugely, too, including new ways to interact with the Watch. Kevin Lynch, Apple’s Vice President of Technology, and Deidre Caldbeck, Director of Apple Watch Product Marketing, sat down exclusively with The Independent to talk about how things have changed. What’s been consistent over the years is that unlike many other devices, the all-day proximity means the Watch offers benefits without you interacting with it at all. Simply wearing it allows the Watch to monitor your heart rate and let you know if something’s amiss. In fact, the heart rate monitor was built into the first Apple Watch – at a time when few other wearables had such a sensor – for a more mundane task. Lynch explains, “We decided to focus on the heart in the early days, to get accurate calorimetry.” In other words, while most smart watches counted the calories you were burning through knowing your height and likely stride length, the Apple Watch was more precise because it took your exertions into account. “We built the sensor and showed you a way to view your heart rate. We didn’t really think that in itself was going to be compelling because you can measure your heart rate yourself just by putting your finger on your wrist and counting. But we found some people were looking at the heart rate and, when it looked weird, they talked to their doctor and found they discovered something about their health that they weren’t aware of. They started writing us letters about this – and we are still getting them today.” This led to Apple searching for ways to make the heart rate measurements more powerful. The Watch can now let you know if it spots your heart rate unexpected high or low, and led to sleep tracking and more recently monitoring overnight respiratory rate. This autumn will also see a focus on mental health as well as physical. The Watch already has meditation capabilities in the Mindfulness app but this will expand with a place to log emotions and daily moods. The Medications app will be able to send reminders if taking your medication hasn’t been logged on schedule. But Apple Watch has always reached beyond its health capabilities, major though those are. Lynch goes on, “Our question was also, how do we enable your Watch to be a key to the world?” This led to Apple Pay, so a double-tap on the side button lets you pay at a card reader, show a boarding pass, unlock a car or a hotel room and so on. Beyond that, Lynch says, “We look at how do we continue improving the experience, having the willingness to rethink and re-imagine, based on what our users are telling us.” That’s timely because this autumn there will be big changes in how the Watch will be used, even down to what individual buttons do. The new software sees the arrival of widgets on the Watch. Widgets are those highly useful items on a computer desktop or phone home screen that show updateable information. So, where the Fitness app on the iPhone shows a generic image, the Fitness widget tells you exactly how active you’ve been today, for instance. Or the widget for an app like the flight tracking app, Flighty, reminds you how many days until your next flight, or if it’s behind schedule. This is highly useful as previously most extra information on the Watch has been shown through complications, those little areas of some Watch faces that can show the date, today’s temperature, battery charge and so on. Those remain, but with watchOS 10, by turning the Digital Crown, a new stack of widgets scroll up on to the display. This means you can have a spare, simple Watch face but easy access to lots of stuff. Lynch explains, “We can show information with the Smart Stack. You can have a beautiful face like the Palette or Snoopy or whichever graphical face you’d like and have that extra information easily. Internally we called that ‘cake’, as in ‘have your cake and eat it too’.” The Snoopy and Woodstock Watch face, looks like it will be another highlight of watchOS 10, by the way. But this change means that the functions of the buttons have changed. Control Centre is the place where you turn your Watch to silent when you go to the theatre (you do remember to do this, don’t you?) or ping your iPhone when you can’t find it, for instance. It’s very useful and right now you invoke it by swiping up on the display, though this only works from the Watch’s home screen. With watchOS 10, you can’t do this any more, instead pressing the side button. The big benefit is it now works from any screen on the Watch, not just the home screen. But it’s a big change, which could be confusing for users. How carefully does Apple think about making these modifications? Caldbeck says, “It’s a big change but it’s worthwhile making and that is what comes into play when we make a decision like that. We think, how can we continue to evolve and improve the experience? And how can we take the things that you love about Apple Watch and make them better? “And sometimes it does mean we have to change something about the way you interact with the Watch to make it better. The side button is a really good example. We have tried different things with the side button, over the years. We originally had the friends circle so you could contact people close to you. And we know that Apple Pay is really compelling. But when you ask what are some of the other things that users need access to anytime, anywhere, that really that ends up being Control Centre.” Before you panic, this doesn’t mean that Apple Pay is about to change. As Lynch explains, “That is hardware-instrumented so it’s not only down to software. The double-press is wired at a low level physically and electronically so that you can’t fake it out. It means that no software can pretend that you’re trying to buy something, you have to have the double press to activate it at a low level. So, if we did want to change that, it would be quite extensive.” Apple is clearly careful when it comes to these changes. So, how do they come about? Lynch’s reply confirms the thoughtfulness. “Part of how we do this is we start with storytelling, until we get to a place where we think, wow, that would be really cool if the future was like that. Then we try it out. So, we’ll build prototypes, and carry them around ourselves. And it’s this stage, which we call ‘the carry’, where we live with the changes ourselves over time. Some of these things might initially feel strange but after a day or two you start feeling like, oh well, this is obvious now, it’s totally natural, and then people don’t want to go back. That’s when we know that we’ve got a good thing here.” Hardware and software are so thoroughly integrated, so I finally ask how many decisions come back to the battery. Lynch explains, “The way we look at power management comes at the beginning of each release and it’s a multi-year road map. We use the battery model as a fundamental element in talking about the features, we’re going to do. Everything we do has a power budget and we look to save power with other ideas to optimise power, so, we have some focused work each year to improve battery life from a software perspective, And then we invest some of those savings into new features that we are now able to do. “That’s combined with the hardware team working on battery, packaging, chemistry and all the electronics. The system on a chip from the silicon team continues to have improvements on power requirements. Part of how we did the always-on display was through the hardware, silicon and display teams working together and really was key to enabling it. “We have battery models that model average user activities. We call it ‘a day in the life’ and it represents the way many users use Apple Watch. We model the battery consumption we have quite ambitious targets each year. The battery life work is super obsessive.” The Apple Watch routinely lasts longer than a full day, of course. But battery anxiety is the malady of the twenty-first century, so it’s good to know Apple is serious about this. There’s plenty more to the new Watch software, from more advanced cycling workouts to automatically generated waypoints for hikers to NameDrop, where you tap your Watch on someone’s iPhone or Watch to transfer your contact details. The software will go on general release in the autumn, with a public beta version available next month. Read More Apple Watch 7 pre-order: How to buy the new smartwatch in the UK Apple introduces new version of Watch with complete redesign iPhone 13 - live: UK contract deals and prices for Apple, EE and O2 Apple seeks trademark of ‘actual apple’, Swiss fruit association says The new iPhone could have a major clue about Apple’s headset Man locked out of smart home for a week after he was accused of being racist
2023-06-22 03:52
BNY Mellon Slides as Assets Miss, Deposits Decline
Shares of Bank of New York Mellon Corp. slumped the most in three months after the lender’s managed
2023-10-18 00:52
China factory activity slows, adding to economic strains
A survey shows China’s factory activity decelerated in May, adding to signs an economic rebound after the end of anti-virus controls is slowing
2023-05-31 13:23
'Just come clean': Dillon Danis drags James Charles in ongoing feud with Logan Paul
Amid Logan Paul and Dillon Danis feud, Danis targeted Jake Paul by suggesting a connection between Jake and controversial figure James Charles
2023-09-06 16:59
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