Local TV News Is Booming

The consolidation of TV newsroom operations has slowed and local news continues to run on a record number of stations. That is according to a new study from the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTDNA). The study is not being released until June 13, but those are a couple of the top-line results, according to highlights obtained by B&C/Multichannel News. Among the other takeaways are that the quantity of local TV…

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Comcast’s Roberts is unfireable, Bloomberg reports

While Wall Street may have divested a quarter of Comcast’s market cap in the first five months of 2018, expressing dissonance towards the cable giant’s M&A plans, the top executive pulling the controversial strings remains safe, according to Bloomberg. In fact, examining Comcast’s unique articles of incorporation, the news service determined that Brian Roberts is the company’s “CEO for life”—or at least until he decides to stop down. “Roberts, the…

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Inside Walmart’s Best-Laid Consumer Tech Plans

No Walmart shareholders’ week would be complete without a walkthrough of the chain’s laboratory store in Rogers, Ark., and a stopover in the CE department. This year’s annual event, held last week in the vicinity of company headquarters in Bentonville, was no different. There, media were tipped off to ongoing updates to the tech section (labeled Entertainment in Walmart stores) that include a more open floor plan, an even heavier…

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New System Could Restore Ability to Focus on Nearby Objects

A new vision correcting system that mimics the human eye could be a saving grace for those suffering from a common vision problem that is often associated with aging. A team of researchers from Stanford University has developed a new computational system that effectively mimics the natural way eyes correct focus, particularly while viewing objects that are closer rather than farther away, correcting a common vision problem called presbyopia where…

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Apple is making it harder for police to collect evidence from iPhones of suspected criminals

Apple announced Wednesday that it would block access to a port that law enforcement uses to break into iPhones during criminal investigations, a move that could reignite debate over whether tech companies are doing enough to help authorities probing serious crimes. Apple said the change, which would disable the Lightning port on the bottom of iPhones an hour after users lock their phones, is part of software updates to be rolled…

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Watch Cuttlefish-Inspired Robot Glide Through Underwater Pipes

A few months ago, Germany-based industrial control and automation company Festo unveiled the BionicWheelBot. Inspired by the Moroccan flic-flic spider, which flees by performing a series of forward or backward flips, the robotic design can walk and roll with ease. Now, the company has released an autonomous aquatic design dubbed the BionicFinWave, emulating the movements of the cuttlefish. In particular, designers were interested in how the fish uses its fins to…

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Animal-Inspired Wetsuit Treatment Improves Survival in Frigid Water

Navy Seals, rescue personnel and athletes could all benefit from a new wetsuit treatment that reduces risk in icy and dangerously cold waters. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the U.S. Navy have developed a new treatment method which is implemented by placing a standard neoprene wetsuit inside a pressure tank autoclave filled with a heavy inert gas, for approximately a day. The coating could last as long…

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Light Pollution Linked to Decline in Insects

Bright lights in certain areas may be driving the flying insect population down, ultimately resulting in changes in the natural ecosystem. A team from the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) have discovered that regions that have experienced a sharp decline in flying insects are plagued by high levels of light pollution. A 2017 study analyzing trends in the biomass of flying insects in selected protected areas within…

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