PXL News
Everything the anchors say on this tape, story by story.
GRANT BRICKMAN: While you were asleep: screwworms reached Arizona, joining New Mexico and Texas, with 74 animal cases in the US since June.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Sam Altman said on a podcast it's terrible that scarce DRAM sits in PCs used five percent of the time, The Verge reports.
GRANT BRICKMAN: And a fan built a Star Trek TNG episode guessing game in honor of Sir Patrick Stewart. There's a daily limit.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Ninety new sci-fi, fantasy and horror books are due in November, and the studio can't agree what that means.
GRANT BRICKMAN: For viewers just joining: we first told you about this Friday at 15:15. Ninety new genre books for November. Is that a reading list, or a threat? ▶
ROXY: Ninety new sci-fi, fantasy and horror books for November, says io9 at Gizmodo. John Scalzi, Cassandra Khaw, and memoirs from Andy Serkis and LeVar Burton. Five reels out of five. ▶
ROXY: There's a dark romantasy debut with an ancient God of War, a sequel to Warrior Princess Assassin, and a monster romance with an orc king and a portal. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: On Bluesky, seven posts link the story, with fifteen likes and one repost. Some of the talk is tagged for the sci-fi writing community. One post says come for the books, leave before the comments. ▶
PRUDENCE NUANCE: Seven posts linked it. Ninety books are waiting. Somebody's reading rate is off. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: Gary, Prue, you've seen the board. Is a pile of ninety a gift or a chore? ▶
PRUDENCE NUANCE: Nobody asked the reader whose shelf is already full. ▶
ROXY: Reactor ran its own list, of movies and shows streaming this November. They call it the Deeply Flawed Gems Edition, for things that almost get there. ▶
GARY: Flawed gems is just early access with nicer lighting. I would still play it. ▶
PRUDENCE NUANCE: Flawed gem, or gem with flaws? That headline holds both. ▶
ROXY: The article says the flood tapers off as November nears Thanksgiving, and calls this prime stay-home-and-read season, as the days get shorter and colder. ▶
GARY: Stay-home season is just winter biome. Craft a blanket, hide from the dark, read the quest log. ▶
PRUDENCE NUANCE: Several of these share November 3, per the article. The compromise is: read one. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: So we know ninety books are coming and that nobody here agrees what that means. What's still open is who reads all ninety. We'll find out in November. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: A clear foil that heats, shields and carries signals, and you can barely see it.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Good morning. A clear foil that heats, shields and sends signals. My kitchen window does one of those, and badly. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Elektronik Praxis reports that Bopla uses metal mesh for this. Several functions in one transparent foil, built into surfaces without changing how a device looks. ▶
ADA: Huge fan already. The mesh is a metal grid thinner than a human hair, ultrafine traces embedded in clear PET, polycarbonate or glass. ▶
ADA: Trace widths stay under five micrometres, so your eye barely sees them. The article gives over ninety percent transmission between four hundred and nine hundred nanometres. ▶
ADA: File footage here: a clear foil sample held up to a bench lamp. You see right through it, and that's the whole trick. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Ada, what does this replace? ▶
ADA: Indium oxide, ITO, which industry often uses. The article calls it ceramic, brittle and sensitive, and then it cuts off at the bending part. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: The article also gives sheet resistance from zero point two to twelve ohms. Heating, shielding and sensors from one layer. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: Invisible heating in a foil. Finally I can warm my mug without telling anyone. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: The Hype Index: a Star Trek game tops the wire, and three desks tie on volume.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Time for the Hype Index, our market report on hype. Gently, please, I'm on my second coffee. Vera has the board. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Top of the wire: 141 points on Hacker News for the TNG episode guessing game. Then 121 for the oldest ice and the Stone Age. Then 104 for Tell HN: Scribd Breached. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: One hundred forty-one points for a quiz about a starship. Make it so. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Desk volume, last 24 hours: tech, 30 stories. AI, 30 stories. Gaming, 30 stories. Either perfectly balanced, or the counter has a ceiling. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: Thirty each. Very fair. Nobody gets seconds. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Loudest words: STEWART in eight headlines, PATRICK in eight headlines, DATA in eight headlines. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Stewart and Patrick tie at eight. I suspect they travel together. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: That's the Hype Index. Hype is steady, and so is my coffee. Mostly. ▶
BILLY MAYHEM: Want a vacation? Want a SURPRISE? Detourist! You say beach, we say a layover in a lovely car park!
PRUDENCE NUANCE: On the one hand, an adventure. On the other hand, it is an airport.
BILLY MAYHEM: But wait! Your luggage goes somewhere else! For FREE!
AI-written satire. The text of the news items comes from the linked articles. Plain text