PXL News
Everything the anchors say on this tape, story by story.
GRANT BRICKMAN: While you were asleep: io9 listed 90 new sci-fi, fantasy and horror books arriving in November, from John Scalzi to Cassandra Khaw.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Elektronik Praxis reported that Bopla uses metal-mesh transparent conductive structures to bundle several functions in a single foil.
GRANT BRICKMAN: And Ars Technica says screwworms have spread to Arizona, joining New Mexico and Texas, with 74 animal cases in the US since June.
GRANT BRICKMAN: A cheap toy camera has just been patched into a USB webcam, and the makers desk is on it.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Breaking news this Saturday morning, and it's a small one: a toy camera has just been turned into a webcam. We're breaking into your coffee. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Hackaday reports the Godox C100 is a cheap camera best described as a toy. Its party trick is a big clear viewfinder with a light meter. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: A webcam, Greta. Does it plug into the cloud? Over to Ada, who I'm told owns a soldering iron. ▶
ADA: This is so clever, Grant. The maker Holofermes wrote patches that turn the C100 into a USB webcam, and add a dock for a Pi Zero. ▶
ADA: On file footage you can see the fancy case and that big clear viewfinder. Inside, Hackaday says, it's little more than a dashcam. ▶
ADA: It runs FreeRTOS on an Arm chip with 16 megabytes of memory. The sensor is 1920 by 1080, a step up from the upscaled VGA of many such cameras. ▶
ADA: The patches sit on top of the standard firmware. While they're installed it's only a USB drive and webcam. To get the camera back, flash the original firmware. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Hackaday notes many novelty cameras aren't this hackable, and hopes more camera hackers will turn their attention to it. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: So the toy camera has a day job now. Good for it. Back to the coffee. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Scientific American has a new puzzle: nine zeros in a triangle, and only one possible starting number.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Now the full story, and it's a puzzle. Scientific American has set a new one, and it involves a mysterious pyramid made of triangles. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Nine cells, nine zeros. Change them into nine consecutive positive integers, the smallest one called a. Vera, what's the catch? ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Scientific American says a move adds or subtracts one on two neighbouring cells. Neighbours are always one orange triangle and one black. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: So orange and black go in pairs, like socks. Does that help us? ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: It does. Both colour sums start at zero and every move keeps them equal. Black is six cells, orange three, so a can be at most 2. ▶
NOVA: Out here the universe is mostly rules and zeros, so I love this. Nine cells, one strict balance, and a tiny window left for a. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: And there's a second hurdle, Vera? ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Yes. The two sums must add to an even number. For a equal to 1, the nine numbers total 45, which is odd. That leaves only a equal to 2. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: So the answer is 2. Done. Next story. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Not quite. The article says if there's a solution at all, it's a equal to 2. As far as it goes here, it stops before showing one. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: The article adds that move order doesn't matter, and raising a pair n times is the same as raising both by n at once. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: Pencils out, everyone. Plenty of time over breakfast. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: Two outlets pay tribute to Sir Patrick Stewart, and we compare how they framed it.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Now a gentler Spin Room. Two outlets have written about Sir Patrick Stewart, and we'll read them carefully and with respect. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Den of Geek runs Patrick Stewart: A Man Who Bridged Our Past with the Future. Its writer recalls seeing him on stage in Waiting for Godot. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: io9 goes with Patrick Stewart Was a Man for All Generations. It notes he was born July 13, 1940, and that saying goodbye has been tough. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: Den of Geek has the better headline. It's all about the stage, and I don't believe io9 mentions the theatre at all. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: It does, Grant. io9 lists his stage roles, Galileo among them, alongside Captain Picard and Charles Xavier. Both pieces cover stage and screen. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: I stand by it, Greta. Bridged is the grander word, and he deserves the grander word. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: The spin score is 57 out of 100. The headlines share few words, though both remember a long career. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: Whatever the wording, a remarkable career and a voice we'll miss. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Our thanks to Den of Geek and io9 for the tributes. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Do your passwords feel crowded? Do forty open tabs follow you into bed? Fennick may help.
DR. VERA VECTOR: Fennick is a once-daily reminder to update, log out and clear the junk drawer of your phone. Ask your IT person if Fennick is right for you.
DIRECTOR MARGE: Side effects: sudden backups, eye contact with your router, renaming files final-final, tabs reopening out of spite. Do not take during a pending update.
STORMY BYTES: London, 10 degrees and overcast, wind 6 km/h. High 14, low 10, and a 0 percent chance of rain. Grey, but dry.
STORMY BYTES: Paris, 7 degrees under a clear sky, wind 5 km/h. High 15, low 7, 0 percent chance of rain. Perfect croissant weather.
STORMY BYTES: Berlin, 9 degrees and overcast, wind 7 km/h. High 12, low 6, and a 3 percent chance of rain. Just a whisper of light rain.
STORMY BYTES: Madrid, 9 degrees, clear sky, wind 4 km/h. The high climbs to 21, the low is 9, and rain chance is 0 percent. Pure sunshine.
STORMY BYTES: Rome, 10 degrees and partly cloudy, wind 4 km/h. High 21, low 10, a 3 percent chance of rain, and the day turns overcast.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Correct! You spotted the real one. PXL made the other up, and I only proofread it twice.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Fooled! PXL wrote that one ourselves. It sounded very convincing, I'll admit, even to me.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Time's up! The clock waits for no anchor, and certainly not before his second coffee.
AI-written satire. The text of the news items comes from the linked articles. Plain text