Author: mangakiko

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US

Details of MTA’s congestion pricing plan for Manhattan unveiled

Details of MTA's congestion pricing plan for Manhattan unveiled

Drivers could face $9 to $23 in fees to drive into parts of Manhattan as soon as late 2023, according to the MTA’s congestion pricing plan that’ll be unveiled Wednesday.

The amounts and timeline were detailed in a 34-page summary of the project’s much-delayed environmental review, which was provided to reporters by the cash-strapped agency Tuesday.

“The tremendous detail included in this assessment makes clear the widespread benefits that would result from central business district tolling,” said MTA chief Janno Lieber in a statement. “Bottom line: this is good for the environment, good for public transit and good for New York and the region.”

MTA plans on increasing the toll amount for drivers on Manhattan's West Side Highway.
The MTA plans on increasing the toll amount for drivers on Manhattan’s West Side Highway.
AP Photo/Seth Wenig

The summary reveals the MTA is considering a tiered plan that would charge drivers the most to enter the tolling district — south of Manhattan’s 60th Street — during peak daytime hours, while providing discounts to those who drive in during evening or overnight hours.

The MTA’s study outlined a slew of options that its toll board will consider, including:

  • A $9 fee during peak time — typically defined as 6 am to 8 pm — which commuters would pay once per day when they exit the West Side Highway or FDR into Midtown or Lower Manhattan. There would be no discounts for commuters who pay tolls on tunnels or bridges into Manhattan
  • A $23 fee during peak time, which would be paid by all drivers. But New Jersey and outer-borough commuters would be allowed to subtract the tunnel tolls they pay to cross into Manhattan from that congestion fee. The MTA would also exempt cabs from the congestion fee under that proposal.

MTA officials said Tuesday the proposed discount plan would cover 100% of the cost of the East River tolls, 100% of the off-peak toll for Port Authority crossings and between 90 to 95% of the peak hour PA toll.

MTA CEO Janno Lieber commended the up-hike in fees.
MTA CEO Janno Lieber commended the up-hike in fees.
Robert Miller

For example, a driver coming from New Jersey traveling through the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan would be able to credit almost all of their $13.75 peak tunnel toll against the congestion charge — meaning they would pay an estimated $10 to continue on into Midtown.

New Jersey politicians, including Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, have campaigned hard for such a discount.

The entire $23 congestion fee would have to be paid by drivers who cross the East River using the free Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, Queensboro bridges or drive down from north of 59th Street. Effectively, officials said, the higher congestion charge is necessary to offset the revenues lost by providing the toll rebate.

Drivers would only be charged once per day to enter the zone and New Yorkers who live south of 60th Street will be able to claim the toll costs on their state income taxes if they make less than $60,000 per year.

The congestion-pricing program has two major goals — combat ever-worsening traffic in Manhattan and use the revenues to overhaul and upgrade the subways, buses, Long Island Rail Road and the MetroNorth.

Over the last decade, average traffic speeds plummeted 22% from an already miserly 9.1 mph to just 7.1 mph.

Buses suffered even more as speeds on routes that run south of 60th Street dropped 28% over the 10-year timeframe between 2010 and 2019.

The analysis found that charging motorists to drive on city roads south of 60th Street would reduce the number of cars driving in Lower and Midtown Manhattan by as much as 20%.

The revenues from the congestion fee would also provide the MTA with enough money to finance $15 billion of its $55 billion program for major upgrades and construction projects.

The money pays for replacing old trains and buses, overhauling and computerizing the ancient and failed prone signals still used on most lettered lines in the subway system and to improve track and reliability of the Long Island Rail Road and MetroNorth.

Officials recently announced plans to speed up the signal work on the Sixth and Eighth Avenue subways, which will improve the speed of the reliability of the frequently late and slow A, C and F trains through Brooklyn.

Despite political pushback and predictions of dire economic consequences, congestion fees succeeded in tamping down London traffic, Bloomberg reported.

The MTA says it will hold a slate of public hearings on the congestion pricing program that will run through early September.

It will then send its recommendations to the Traffic Mobility Review Board, which is tasked with selecting from the menu of options presented by the MTA staff — including the toll rates and possible rebates.

The MTA board must then give its final approval before the congestion pricing program kicks in.

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Categories
Technology

be quiet! Pure Loop 2 FX Review

be quiet! Pure Loop 2 FX Review

In addition to a new case and air cooler, be quiet! has also unveiled a new AIO water cooler – the Pure Loop 2 FX. Just like the other newly announced products, the Pure Loop 2 FX is an improved variant of an existing product – in this case the PureLoop AIO. The new Pure Loop 2 FX is available in 240mm, 280mm and 360mm sizes. For this Pure Loop 2 FX review, I used the 280mm variant.

Design & Processing

The packaging of the Pure Loop 2 FX in the 280mm variant.
The packaging of the Pure Loop 2 FX in the 280mm variant.

The biggest changes are in the design department. The previously mainly monochrome black exterior has been complemented by a lot of RGB with the Pure Loop 2 FX. The fans for the radiator are now the Light Wings PWM fans, which feature a visible RGB ring around the black fan blades on both sides. Likewise, the attachment for the processor, which previously only had white LEDs on the PureLoop, now also supports the full RGB spectrum. Otherwise, the surface of the processor attachment is made of brushed aluminum with the black be quiet!- logo in the center. Included with the AIO is an ARGB-PWM hub that the individual parts can be connected to in order to pair the lights with each other. In addition to the AIO, the rest of the PC’s hardware can of course be connected to this hub, allowing centralized control of the lighting. In total, up to six different devices can be connected to the ARGB-PWM hub.

The build quality is be quiet!-typically high. The pump is installed in a separate unit on the hose of the AIO, which promises improved durability. At the same time, this is also supposed to reduce the noise compared to other water cooling systems. The fans used are specially optimized for radiator operation. On the radiator itself is a refill port, which can be used to refill the supplied coolant if necessary.

Installation

the Pure Loop 2 FX supports Intel 1700, 1200, 2066, 1150, 1151, 1155 and 2011 sockets, as well as AMD AM4 and AM5 sockets. The 40-centimeter-long hose allows the AIO to be attached to the lid of a case as well as to its front. You should only make sure that the pump or the processor attachment is not at the highest point of the loop. Otherwise, air bubbles could collect there, reducing the cooling performance or the pump’s service life.

The installation for the Pure Loop 2 FX test was pleasingly simple. First, the radiator is bolted to the case. Then the fans are screwed to the radiator. Unfortunately, a proprietary socket adapter from be quiet! must be used to attach the CPU attachment; the standard adapter for, for example, socket AM4 is not compatible. However, in my opinion, the adapter itself also has the advantage that the attachment of the attachment is somewhat more precise and it is thus easier to achieve an optimal contact surface between CPU and cooler. The fans, as well as the pump each have their own power supply via a 4-pin WM connector. So that the pump and the fans can be connected to the motherboard and get the correct speed communicated, the included ARGB-PWM hub can be used.

Before installation, it should be looked at in which order you install the radiator, the mainboard and the RAM most sensibly. Otherwise, individual parts may have to be removed again because they get in each other’s way during installation. Likewise, spatial compatibility in the case must be checked – in my case, the RAM sticks, as well as the radiator (with fans) did not fit at the same time until I removed the sticks’ heatspreaders.

Performance

I tested the 280mm variant of the Pure Loop 2 FX. For my slightly overclocked Ryzen 7 5800X, an AIO like this is ideal. The thermal mass provided by the coolant, as well as the large surface area of ​​the radiator, allows heat to be dissipated quickly and, ultimately, effectively. Water coolers are not always necessarily the better choice when it comes to cooling the processor, but water coolers in particular with a large radiator and multiple fans can theoretically dissipate significantly more heat in a certain amount of time than an air cooler, which is of course severely limited in size. The test system used consisted of a Ryzen 7 5800X, Nvidia RTX 3080, 16 GB of Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO memory and the MSI B550-A Pro motherboard.

Cinebench R23 benchmark comparison between the be quiet! Pure Loop 2 FX AIO and the Pure Rock 2 FX air cooler with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X. Arctic MX-4 was used as the thermal paste. On the x-axis is the time. The y-axis shows the temperature of the processor. The data of the AIO is shown in red, that of the air cooler in green. The room temperature during the measurements was about 26 °C.

The graph shows the heat development during Cinebench R23. The green line shows the temperature of the Ryzen 7 5800X with the Pure Rock 2 FX. The red line is the temperature with the Pure Loop 2 FX. The temperature difference is about 5.7 °C. It can also be seen that the Pure Loop 2 FX can keep the slightly overclocked Ryzen 7 5800X below 85 °C under full load. So especially for processors with higher TDP, the Pure Loop 2 FX is a good choice to avoid thermal throttling or temperatures that can reduce the life of the processor.

Loudness

AIO installed for the Pure Loop 2 FX test
The installed AIO

Even under full load, the Pure Loop 2 FX didn’t get particularly loud. I find the pump in particular to be very quiet – I have not been able to hear it a single time. However, the airflow generated by the fans on the radiator is clearly and strongly noticeable, and the Light Wings spin at speeds of up to 2200 rpm. Be quiet! specifies a noise level of 32.8 dB for this speed. When idling, the AIO is generally drowned out in the quiet background noise of the PC and also does not produce any annoying “chatter” or the like.

value for money

the Pure Loop 2 FX is available in three variants. A 240mm variant for €129.90, a 280mm variant for €139.90, and a 360mm variant for €154.90. This is comparable to what other well-known AIO brands charge for their products. Depending on the space in the case and the processor to be cooled, there should thus be a suitable version.

At be quiet! on sale for €99.90 / €109.90 / €124.90, the value for money is almost unbeatable. Only if you like to do without RGB, you can still save some money. Otherwise, the Pure Loop 2 FX is a good choice in terms of price-performance, as well as quality.

Conclusion

the Pure Loop 2 FX test shows that the new AIO builds on the already good foundation of the PureLoop and especially brings the design up to date. The result is an AIO that is quiet, performant, modern and affordable.

Design & workmanship


Installation


Performance


Loudness


value for money



92/100

A good all-rounder AIO that leaves little to be desired.

be quiet! Pure Loop 2 FX 280mm BW014 price comparison

By purchasing via the links from our price comparison, you support our editorial work without incurring additional costs. We thank you for your support.

Categories
Sports

All Blacks v Springboks: How Richie Mo’unga can end the All Blacks’ ‘Phoney War’ – Gregor Paul

All Blacks v Springboks: How Richie Mo'unga can end the All Blacks' 'Phoney War' - Gregor Paul

There simply couldn’t be a better time for Richie Mo’unga to prove he has the mental fortitude, writes Gregor Paul. Photo / Photosport

OPINION:

By Gregor Paul in South Africa

Last November, Richie Mo’unga didn’t manage to be the man the All Blacks needed in a crisis.

His big shot came in the last test of the year

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Categories
US

Woman faces felony charges in helping daughter miscarry : NPR

Woman faces felony charges in helping daughter miscarry : NPR

Protesters line the street June 4 around the front of the Nebraska State Capitol during an Abortion Rights Rally in Lincoln, Neb.

Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP


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Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP

Protesters line the street June 4 around the front of the Nebraska State Capitol during an Abortion Rights Rally in Lincoln, Neb.

Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP

OMAHA, Nebraska — A Nebraska woman has been charged with helping her teenage daughter end her pregnancy at about 24 weeks after investigators uncovered Facebook messages in which the two discussed using medication to induce an abortion and plans to burn the fetus afterward.

The prosecutor handling the case said it’s the first time he has charged anyone for illegally performing an abortion after 20 weeks, a restriction that was passed in 2010. Before the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, states weren’t allowed to enforce abortion bans until the point at which a fetus is considered viable outside the womb, at roughly 24 weeks.

In one of the Facebook messages, Jessica Burgess, 41, tells her then 17-year-old daughter that she has obtained abortion pills for her and gives her instructions on how to take them to end the pregnancy.

The daughter, meanwhile, “talks about how she can’t wait to get the ‘thing’ out of her body,” a detective wrote in court documents. “I will finally be able to wear jeans,” she says in one of the messages. Law enforcement authorities obtained the messages with a search warrant, and detailed some of them in court documents.

In early June, the mother and daughter were only charged with a single felony for removing, concealing or abandoning a body, and two misdemeanors: concealing the death of another person and false reporting. It wasn’t until about a month later, after investigators reviewed the private Facebook messages, that they added the felony abortion-related charges against the mother. The daughter, who is now 18, is being charged as an adult at prosecutors’ request.

Burgess’ attorney didn’t immediately respond to a message Tuesday, and the public defender representing the daughter declined to comment.

When first interviewed, the two told investigators that the teen had unexpectedly given birth to a stillborn baby in the shower in the early morning hours of April 22. They said they put the fetus in a bag, placed it in a box in the back of their van, and later drove several miles north of town, where they buried the body with the help of a 22-year-old man.

The man, whom The Associated Press is not identifying because he has only been charged with a misdemeanor, has pleaded no contest to helping bury the fetus on rural land his parents own north of Norfolk in northeast Nebraska. He’s set to be sentenced later this month.

In court documents, the detective said the fetus showed signs of “thermal wounds” and that the man told investigators the mother and daughter did burn it. He also wrote that the daughter confirmed in the Facebook exchange with her mother that the two would “burn the evidence afterward.” Based on medical records, the fetus was more than 23 weeks old, the detective wrote.

Burgess later admitted to investigators to buy the abortion pills “for the purpose of instigating a miscarriage.”

At first, both mother and daughter said they didn’t remember the date when the stillbirth happened, but according to the detective, the daughter later confirmed the date by consulting her Facebook messages. After that he sought the warrant, he said.

Madison County Attorney Joseph Smith told the Lincoln Journal Star that he’s never filed charges like this related to performing an abortion illegally in his 32 years as the county prosecutor. He didn’t immediately respond to a message from the AP on Tuesday.

The group National Advocates for Pregnant Women, which supports abortion rights, found 1,331 arrests or detentions of women for crimes related to their pregnancy from 2006 to 2020.

In addition to its current 20-week abortion ban, Nebraska tried — but failed — earlier this year to pass a so-called trigger law that would have banned all abortions when the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

A Facebook spokesman declined to talk about the details of this case, but the company has said that officials at the social media giant “always scrutinize every government request we receive to make sure it is legally valid.”

Facebook it will fight back against requests that it thinks are invalid or too broad says, but the company said it gave investigators information in about 88% of the 59,996 times when the government requested data in the second half of last year.

Categories
Technology

Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 Pro: more comfortable design and hi-fi audio

Samsung's Galaxy Buds 2 Pro: more comfortable design and hi-fi audio

Continuing its string of iterative hardware updates today, Samsung is introducing the new Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. The company says they’re smaller and more comfortable than the original Buds Pro, and the new model supports 24-bit audio playback over Bluetooth — if you ‘re using a Samsung phone, that is. Preorders for the $229.99 Buds 2 Pro start today, and they’ll be available on August 26th. (That’s $30 more expensive than the launch price of the original pair.) Samsung’s latest top-of-the-line earbuds will be offered in black, white, and purple.

The Buds 2 Pro are 15 percent smaller than the original Buds Pro, and Samsung has also expanded the venting grille to allow added airflow to reach your ears and cut down on any “plugged up” feeling during extended use. Hopefully this will also make the earbuds’ transparency mode sound even more convincing.

The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are 15 percent smaller than the original Buds Pro.

Samsung is also highlighting just how much recycled material is going into these premium earbuds. This gets a little specific, so the best explanation is actually found in the footnotes of the company’s press release, which I’ve included below:

More than 90 percent of all the plastic components of Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, in weight, are made of recycled materials. 29 grams of plastics are used in the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro in total, and it includes more than 27 grams recycled materials. Each of these components contains at least 20 percent of either discarded fishing nets (ocean-bound plastic) or post-consumer materials. Recycled fishing nets are used in three internal components of the cradle case in its bracket deco front, bracket battery holder, and bracket-PCB. Post-consumer recycled materials are used in eight exterior components. Four components in both Buds in its case front left/right, case rear left/right. And four components in the cradle case in its deco front, case-upper, case-upper inner, and case-lower.

The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro can still automatically switch between various Samsung devices, but they unfortunately lack multipoint support — so you can’t pair them with two audio sources at the same time. The convenient feature is (finally) becoming increasingly common on earbuds, and Google recently included multipoint on its Pixel Buds Pro. So it’s disappointing to see Samsung ship a new flagship set of earbuds without it.

But on the plus side, Samsung says the Buds 2 Pro can now achieve 24-bit hi-fi audio playback. You’ll need a phone running One UI 4.0 or later, and Samsung notes that 24-bit support will vary by app — you know, since Spotify still doesn’t support it.

They’ll be available in white, black, and purple.

With the help of its proprietary “seamless codec (SSC HiFi),” Samsung is pulling off hi-fi wireless playback. “Quality music is enabled to transfer without a pause, and the new coaxial two-way speaker makes those sounds richer than ever,” the company claims. Apple is rumored to be exploring its own solutions for bringing higher-quality audio to the next AirPods Pro. Sony already has a solution with its LDAC codec, which is available on the WF-1000XM5 and LinkBuds S.

360-degree audio is also said to be “enhanced” with improved multichannel immersion. The Buds 2 Pro feature Bluetooth 5.3 and are LE Audio-ready, according to Samsung’s spec sheet.

Battery life is rated at up to five hours of playback (ANC on) or eight with it off. With the case, you get a total of 20 hours (ANC enabled) or 30 hours if you keep it off. And the Buds 2 Pro are rated IPX7 for water and sweat resistance. All in all, Samsung’s latest flagship earbuds are a modest improvement over the previous model but should still make a great companion to the company’s Galaxy phone lineup — including the new Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4.

Related:

Categories
Sports

The Stats Behind Nick Kyrgios’ Untouchable Serving Week In Washington | ATP Tours

The Stats Behind Nick Kyrgios' Untouchable Serving Week In Washington | ATP Tours

Nick Kyrgios made history at the Citi Open on Sunday by becoming the first man to sweep the singles and doubles titles in the 53-year history of the ATP 500 event. But the Aussie also made a bit of history with his flawless serving performance in the singles competition.

With 64 consecutive service holds, Kyrgios was never broken on his title run, saving all 10 break points against him. He hit 96 aces on the week, including a tournament-high 35 in the quarter-finals against Frances Tiafoe — a 6-7(5), 7-6(12), 6-2 victory in which Kyrgios saved five match points.

ATP WTA LIVE | Follow the Pepperstone ATP Race To Turin In Real Time


The last time a player won an ATP Tour title without dropping serve was in June, when Taylor Fritz won Eastbourne with 51 straight holds. The last player to do so with at least 64 service holds was Kenneth Carlsen, who claimed the 2002 Tokyo title behind 70 consecutive service games won. Ivo Karlovic was the last man to win an ATP Tour title with at least 60 service holds and no breaks; I have held 61 times in winning the 2013 Bogota crown.

You May Also Like: History-Making Kyrgios Reaping Rewards For Hard Yards

For the 2022 season, Kyrgios leads the ATP Tour with a hold rate of 94.42 per cent, winning 423 of his 448 service games across 34 matches, according to Infosys ATP Stats. Only John Isner (91.52%), Reilly Opelka (90.83%) and Hubert Hurkacz (90.13%) join him above the 90 per cent threshold.

Kyrgios’ 538 aces on the season are fifth on the ATP Tour, while his 79.17 break-point save percentage (95/120) tops the Tour. The Aussie has won 79.25 per cent of his first-serve points on the year (fourth) and 56.35 per cent of his second-serve points (third).

More stories like this in:

Categories
US

FBI searched Trump’s home seeking classified presidential records – sources | donald trump

Federal investigators searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Monday bearing a warrant that broadly sought presidential and classified records that the justice department believed the former president unlawfully retained, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The criminal nature of the search warrant executed by FBI agents, as described by the sources, suggested the investigation surrounding Trump is firmly a criminal probe that comes with potentially far-reaching political and legal ramifications for the former president.

And the extraordinary search, the sources said, came after the justice department grew concerned – as a result of discussions with Trump’s lawyers in recent weeks – that presidential and classified materials were being unlawfully and improperly kept at the Mar-a-Lago resort.

The unprecedented raid of a former president’s home by FBI agents was the culmination of an extended battle between Trump and his open contempt for the Presidential Records Act of 1978 requiring the preservation of official documents, and officials charged with enforcing that law.

Trump supporters gather after FBI searches his Mar-a-Lago home – video

For years, Trump has ignored the statute. But the criminal investigation into how he took dozens of boxes of presidential and classified records in apparent violation of that statute when he left the White House last year signals potential legal jeopardy for him for the first time.

The statute governing the wilful and unlawful removal or destruction of presidential records, though rarely enforced, carries significant penalties including: fines, imprisonment and, most notably, disqualification from holding current or future office.

But the justice department may take no further action now that it has secured what sources said were around 10 boxes’ worth of documents in addition to 15 boxes recovered from Mar-a-Lago earlier this year – but what it does next was not immediately clear .

The FBI obtained a warrant for the search, meaning it showed there may be evidence of a crime at the location, which in this case would be the very presence of sensitive government documents that the justice department concluded should be held at the National Archives.

The improper handling of classified materials raised the additional prospect that the FBI might have sufficient basis to open a counterintelligence investigation, amid concerns that the records could have been accessed by individuals not authorized to view secret documents.

On his social media app, Trump on Tuesday denounced the search as a “coordinated attack” that included congressional and federal investigations into his role in the Capitol attack, and state-level probes in Georgia and New York as he weighs running for a second term .

The search warrant appeared to be approved by Florida federal magistrate judge Bruce Reinhart. The attachment to the warrant, describing the “property to be seized”, broadly referred to classified documents and materials responsive to the Presidential Records Act, one of the sources said.

The operation would have likely required approval from the highest echelons of the justice department, former officials and FBI agents said, including attorney general Merrick Garland, and the Trump-appointed FBI director Christipher Wray. An agency spokesperson declined to comment.

One of Trump’s lawyers, Christina Bobb, later said the warrant sought “presidential records.” Trump has not released his copy of the warrant.

In executing the search warrant on Monday, teams of FBI agents wearing nondescript clothes fanned out across the entirety of the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, the sources said. Trump was not there at the time of the raid and learned about it while he was in New York.

The agents searched through storage areas in the basement of the property, the sources said, before moving to Trump’s office on the second floor of the main house, where a safecracking team opened a hotel-style safe, though that contained no records responsive to the warrant.

Later, the FBI agents searched the residence of Trump and his wife, Melania, and navigated through the pocket-door that separates their separate rooms, one of the sources said.

The FBI agents believed the records they were seeking were at Trump’s residence, the sources said, in part through the justice department’s talks with Trump’s lawyers – led by former assistant US attorney Evan Corcoran – about the retrieval of official records from the property.

In early June, the sources said, four justice department officials, including the chief of counterintelligence and export control Jay Bratt, went down to Mar-a-Lago to ask about what materials Trump removed from the White House, and met with Corcoran and Bobb .

The officials asked to see where the White House records were being kept. They were shown the storage facility in the basement where the boxes had been placed, and after looking around for some time, during which Trump dropped by to say hello, the officials left.

Corcoran and Bobb continued to be in touch with the justice department in the weeks afterwards, and complied with a June 8, 2022 letter that asked the basement storage area to be secured with a lock, the sources said.

The justice department is understood, at some point since the investigation was opened in April this year, to have asked for the return of classified materials. Trump’s lawyers are understood to have agreed, and indicated they would go through the boxes to comply with the request.

But that otherwise cordial channel of communication appears to have somehow gone awry – prompting the justice department to take the aggressive step of seeking a warrant to seize documents – though a person close to Trump disputed this assessment and called it an incomplete account.

The exact inventory of what the FBI removed was still not clear late on Tuesday. Corcoran was in possession of the search return ‘receipt’ but appears to have not divulged its contents even to some associates.

A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Corcoran declined to comment.

Categories
Technology

Samsung goes Pro with new Galaxy Buds2 Pro earbuds

Logitech G Aurora Collection

Following up its new Galaxy Z Fold4 and Z Flip4 foldable phones, Samsung announced new top of the line earbuds at the UnPacked 2022 event in New York. The Galaxy Buds2 Pros feature high-fidelity sound, a more compact design and stylish color options.

Audiophiles will be thrilled with the Buds2 Pro’s 24-bit Hi-Fi audio support. This brings the ability to play higher-resolution music files, such as tracks using Samsung’s seamless codec (SSC HiFi). The net result is more dynamic, detailed playback and a greater range of sound.

Also new is spatial surround sound support along with Dolby 360-degree audio tracking for a theater like experience.

Next, the Buds2 Pro get a more powerful Active Noise Canceling system, to help eliminate outside noise. We’ll test out how this works in our upcoming GadgetGuy review.

The Buds2’s canal-type design has new aerodynamic features, including a vent hole, nozzle grill and mic array to help improve airflow. The wind shield is now 2 times larger than the previous Galaxy Buds Pros to cut down on wind noise.

close up of purple earbuds
Earbuds in a person's ear
3 earbuds in colored cases

The earbuds are smaller too, dropping 15 percent of their volume compared to the previous ones. The Buds2’s new shape also prevents rotation in your ear and should be more comfortable to wear for long periods.

A new Auto Switch feature provides a seamless transition from your music, game or movie back to your phone to answer a call. And thanks to Easy Pair, for the first time ever the Buds2 Pro will seamlessly connect to compatible Samsung TVs.

There are three colors to choose from including Samsung’s signature Bora Purple, along with White and Graphite.

The Galaxy Buds2 Pro costs $A349. Pre-orders begin on 11th August, with on-sale kicking off 2nd September.

Check out our video for more:

Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro – Specifications

colors Graphite, Bora Purple, White
ANC -33dB
environment Ambient – ​​Latency 0.2ms
Amplify – Up to +25dB
sound 360 Audio 24bit HiFi
Intelligence Voice Detect
Battery Capacity – 61/500mAh Play time – 5/18Hr (ANC On) (Buds/total) – 8/29Hr (ANC Off) Talk time – 3.5/14Hr (ANC On) (Buds/Toal)- 4/15Hr (ANC Off )
speaker 2-way(10mm Woofer + 5.3mm Tweeter)
Call Quality 3 Mics (All High SNR Mics) + VPU + DNN + Personalized Beamforming
connectivity Auto Switching / BT 5.3 (LE Audio ready
water resistant IPX7

(Source: Samsung)

Samsung’s new foldable phones

Samsung’s new smart watches

More earbud news and reviews on GadgetGuy

Valens Quinn attended the Samsung UnPacked event in New York as a guest of Samsung Australia.

Categories
Australia

Mother and son found dead in Brisbane home: The latest.

Mother and son found dead in Brisbane home: The latest.

Warning: This post contains graphic details which may be distressing for some readers.

Jifeng ‘Eileen’ Liu was believed to be in a relationship with her partner “for some months” before police were called to her Brisbane home this week.

The 47-year-old and her 20-year-old son Wenhao Du were found dead on the second floor of their Stretton home, after police were called to the property around 9:40am on Monday.

Eileen’s 49-year-old partner, Weifeng Huang, is also believed to live at the property. I have raised the alarm by calling triple zero.

After arriving at the home, Huang unlocked the front door for police officers who were confronted by “large amounts of blood” on the staircase of the property.

“The scene was confronting, it has been described as a frenzied attack on the two deceased persons,” said Brisbane Region Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham.

He confirmed the mother and son were found at the top of the stairs “in a bedroom on the right-hand side” and were dressed in “night attire”.

Watch: Brisbane Region Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham addresses media. Post continues below.

Police also located two “bladed” weapons at the scene.

“I can also confirm that the [alleged] weapons that were located yesterday that were described as two bladed weapons are in fact a long-handled kitchen knife and a meat cleaver,” Massingham told reporters.

Huang was treated for injuries and taken to a hospital in Brisbane where he underwent surgery.

He has since been charged with two counts of murder and remains under police guard.

On Tuesday, he attended a court hearing from his hospital bed via telephone, where he was unable to apply for bail and his matter was adjourned until September.

Jifeng ‘Eileen’ Liu. Image: Facebook.

Categories
US

Hawaii man, 75, accused of stabbing California teen 59 times in 1982

Hawaii man, 75, accused of stabbing California teen 59 times in 1982

A 75-year-old Hawaii man was accused Tuesday of the brutal rape and murder of a California teenager, four decades after her body was found by a cinder block wall in Silicon Valley, authorities said.

Gary Ramirez was linked to the 1982 killing of Karen Stitt, 15, after a Sunnyvale police detective was alerted to the killer’s possible identity last year, according to court documents filed in Santa Clara County.

Ramirez, who grew up in the Fresno area and served in the Air Force, was arrested Aug. 2 in Maui and is expected to be extradited on charges of murder, kidnap and rape, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release .

Karen Stitt, 15, of Palo Alto, around 1982.
Karen Stitt, 15, of Palo Alto, around 1982.Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office

A trucker found Stitt’s body on the morning of Sept. 3, 1982, at the base of a cinder block wall, according to a statement of facts included in the court documents.

An autopsy revealed that she’d been stabbed 59 times, the document says. Sunnyvale Police Detective Matt Hutchinson, who wrote the statement of facts, said the teen had also been raped.

Stitt’s boyfriend, who had been with her the night before she was killed, was initially believed to be a suspect, the district attorney’s office said.

They’d met on the night Sept. 2 at a 7-Eleven in Sunnyvale, where the boyfriend lived, and spent a few hours together before Stitt went to a bus stop for a ride home to Palo Alto, according to the statement of facts.

Her naked body was found 100 yards from the bus stop, the document says.

The boyfriend was ruled out as a suspect after a DNA analysis found that sperm collected from Stitt’s body and male blood found at the crime scene didn’t match a sample provided by the boyfriend.

No other suspect was identified, and the case remained cold until 2021, two years after Hutchinson teamed up with a genetic genealogist, The Associated Press reported.

The researcher found that a son of a woman named Rose Aguilera Ramirez may have killed Stitt, the statement of facts says.

Hutchinson found that the woman’s family lived in the Fresno area and that she had four sons, according to the document. The detective ruled out two of the brothers as possible suspects using law enforcement and public records databases, the document says.

When details for one of the two remaining brothers could not be verified, Hutchinson found a child of Gary Ramirez and obtained DNA, according to the statement of facts.

The county crime lab compared the DNA sample from the crime scene and found “very strong statistical support” that they were a match, the statement says.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Ramirez, who was arrested at his home in Makawao, has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

One of his brothers, Rudy Ramirez, told the San Jose Mercury-News that he’d never seen his brother get violent or angry.

“He wouldn’t hurt a fly,” he told the newspaper.

Tim Stelloh is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.