CATEGORIES

DRONE TOOLS Safely using autonomous flight modes

In the early days of aviation, as aircraft range and endurance increased, so did the fatigue experienced by pilots. Autopilots were invented in 1912, guiding aircraft to fly straight and level on a compass course and greatly reducing a pilot’s workload. For more than a century, autopilots have improved many aspects of aviation safety, but they have also created new problems.

A Colossal Challenge

Photographing Salem’s Oregon Pioneer

911 DRONE DEPLOYMENT

Archer Unmanned Air Systems (Archer UAS), technology company with a 911-integrated drone deployment system, has announced a partnership with RapidDeploy as part of its Lightning Partner Program.

US HOLDS FIRST OIL LEASE SALE FOR ALASKA'S ARCTIC REFUGE

The U.S. government held its first-ever oil and gas lease sale for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an event critics labeled as a bust with major oil companies staying on the sidelines and a state corporation emerging as the main bidder.

SLACK KICKS OFF 2021 WITH A GLOBAL OUTAGE

Slack, the messaging service used by millions of people for work and school, suffered a global outage on Monday, the first day back for most people returning from the New Year’s holiday.

WORLD BANK SEES SUBDUED RECOVERY IN 2021 AND PLENTY OF RISK

The global economy will experience a subdued recovery this year from the devastating pandemic, the World Bank predicted, but it warned that the near-term outlook is highly uncertain and growth could be imperiled if coronavirus infections and delays in the rollout of vaccines continue.

US UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS SLIP TO STILL-HIGH 787,000

The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell slightly to 787,000, evidence of a job market stumbling in the face of the viral pandemic and the damage it has inflicted on the economy for nearly 10 months.

AMAZON'S BEZOS TOPS LIST OF RICHEST CHARITABLE GIFTS IN 2020

The world’s richest person made the single-largest charitable contribution in 2020, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual list of top donations, a $10 billion gift that is intended to help fight climate change.

MICROSOFT SAYS HACKERS VIEWED SOURCE CODE, DIDN'T CHANGE IT

Microsoft said in a blog pos t that hackers tied to a massive intrusion of dozens of U.S. government agencies and private companies sneaked further into its systems than previously thought, although the intrusion doesn’t appear to have caused any additional harm.

GOOGLE WORKERS FORM NEW LABOR UNION, A TECH INDUSTRY RARITY

A group of Google engineers and other workers announced they have formed a union, creating a rare foothold for the labor movement in the tech industry.

AMAZON BUYS 11 JETS FOR 1ST TIME TO SHIP ORDERS FASTER

Amazon said this week that it bought 11 jets from Delta and WestJet airlines to boost its growing delivery network and get orders to shoppers faster.

LATE SALES REBOUND HELPS US AUTOMAKERS AVOID 2020 DISASTER

Sales of new vehicles in the U.S. fell 14.6% last year, but a second-half rebound from a coronavirus-related plunge in the spring kindled optimism for a recovery later this year.

PIXAR'S ‘SOUL' JOINS MID-LIFE CRISIS, JAZZ FANTASIA

Pete Docter’s “Soul” features stairway-to-heaven visions of the afterlife, a pre-birth “before” realm where souls are glowing turquoise orbs and an in-between spiritual realm trafficked by some kind of psychedelic pirate. And yet, kind of magically, it’s about “just regular old living.”

FROM ZOOM TO QUIBI, THE TECH WINNERS AND LOSERS OF 2020

We streamed, we Zoomed, we ordered groceries and houseplants online, we created virtual villages while navigating laptop shortages to work and learn from home. In many ways, 2020’s pandemic-induced isolation threw our dependence on technology into overdrive, snipping away at our real-life connections while bringing digital relationships to the fore.

WATCH OUT LA: FEDS CALCULATE RISKIEST, SAFEST PLACES IN US

Spending her life in Los Angeles, Morgan Andersen knows natural disasters all too well. In college, an earthquake shook her home hard. Her grandfather was affected by recent wildfires in neighboring Orange County.

TOM HANKS IS DOGGEDLY HEROIC IN ‘NEWS OF THE WORLD'

Tom Hanks rides a horse and blasts a six-shooter in his new film, “News of the World.” Some of you might be thinking this must be his first cowboy role. To those, we respond: Have you forgotten about Woody so soon?

GREEN FUTURE: HOW TECH GIANTS CAN BE PART OF THE SOLUTION

With consumers encouraged to upgrade their smartphones on a near-annual basis and the throwaway culture of technology continuing apace, e-waste is fast-becoming one of the key environmental concerns. Less than 40% of our phones, tablets, and laptops are recycled, with the rest destined for landfill. The key to change lies with us - and our technology giants.

CIA'S NEW RECRUITMENT WEBSITE AIMS TO DIVERSIFY SPY AGENCY

Wanted: Spies from all backgrounds and walks of life.

CALIFORNIA BOARD URGES BIAS REVIEWS OF POLICE SOCIAL MEDIA

California police agencies should routinely review officers’ social media, cellphones and computers for racist, bigoted or other offensive content that contributes to disproportionate police stops of Black people, a state advisory board said Monday.

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN TO GET MY 2ND VACCINE SHOT?

As U.S. health officials try to get COVID-19 vaccines to people more quickly, it’s already time for some people to get their second shots.

AFTER TOP STAFF EXODUS, TEXAS AG SEEKS $43M FOR GOOGLE SUIT

The mass exodus of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s top staff over accusations of bribery against their former boss has left the Republican seeking $43 million in public funds to replace some of them with outside lawyers to lead a high-profile antitrust lawsuit against Google.

Where Is Jack Ma, China's E-commerce Pioneer?

China’s best-known entrepreneur, e-commerce billionaire Jack Ma, made his fortune by taking big risks.

The magnificent eight

The Story of the Grateful Dead, a 14-LP, 8-album collection of Grateful Dead recordings with booklet and deluxe packaging, from Vinyl Me, Please (VMP-A006, 2020), is intended as a curated sampling of the high points in the Dead’s extensive catalog. The first seven albums were cut from analog tape, while Without a Net comes from the original digital master. The sound is breathtaking.

T+A Solitaire P headphones and HA 200 DACheadphone amplifier

What I categorize as mainstream, dealer-based, fancy-pants stream-ers and big-speakers audio is actually only the gold-plated tip of a gigantic asteroid-like monolith that extends (underground) from New York to Hong Kong, from the Arctic Circle to Antarctica. This immense audio-social mass is mostly invisible to the Madison Avenue mainstream, but simple Google searches expose millions of proletarian audio-gear constructers (DIY’ers) working in shops, basements, and garages, scratch-building everything from turntables to tonearms to phono cartridges, to capacitors and vacuum tubes, to amplifiers, headphones, ribbon and electrostatic speakers.

MAKE MORE NOISE!

The title of this set—4 CDs and a book—comes from British suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst’s call to arms for women to fight for their rights: “You have to make more noise than anybody else,” said Pankhurst, who died in 1928.

RECORD REVIEWS

EDITOR’S PICK - RECORDING OF THE MONTH

Landscape into music

It says something about the power of music that some individuals fading into dementia can still recognize the music they knew earlier in their lives. Not to denigrate new music, or music one hasn’t heard before, but our mental jukeboxes award top chart numbers to music that we have lived with over time. Those DJs making their playlists in our brain are the toughest of critics. They don’t care what anyone else might think, “Close to You” is staying in the rotation. Music and memory are linked.

STM ChargeTree 3–in–1 wireless charger

Space–conscious wireless charging

Creative Live! Cam Sync 1080p

Better video calling made easy

CRAVE

THE GEAR WE’RE LUSTING AFTER