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The EJCC Wireless Microphone is a little piece of tech that could up your audio game. Its not just for content creators; its for anyone wearing too many hats in our modern, work-from-home culture. It's not super high-tech, but if you're dealing with poor audio quality or the background symphony of family life while recording demos, creating content, or attending online meetings, this wireless mic could help.It's worth noting that the Amazon page says it's 91% off, bringing its price down to $26.99 from $299.99, but according to price tracking tools, it has never actually been sold for more than $34. In other words, it's possible that this product has never actually been sold at that $300 price point, and it's just listed as such to make the discount seem more appealing. Still, it seems like a decent product that's pretty affordable. EJCC Wireless Microphone $26.99 at Amazon $299.99 Save $273.00 Get Deal Get Deal $26.99 at Amazon $299.99 Save $273.00 This portable and rechargeable audio setup comes with two clip-on/lapel microphones, a receiver, and a USB charging cable. It's compatible with Apple devices, Androids, PCs, and cameras (for those of you who would use it for filming, for example). If you're one to constantly move around while recording, the built-in noise reduction chip claims to have a range of up to 65 feet, giving you the freedom to move without sacrificing audio quality. Plus, it can hold its own for up to seven hours of continuous use, which sounds decent enough for an average day's work.Of course, this product has its limitations. The microphone itself doesn't swivel, but its sensitive, 360-degree omnidirectional pickup will capture sound from all directions without having to constantly adjust or reposition. And, while many users praise its sound quality, some have mentioned that it can still pick up some background noise in chaotic environments.

An innovative scanner created by an NYU computer scientist is allowing scientists to digitize previously isolated fossils in remote South American regions. Claudio Silvas PaleoScan provides a portable and affordable way to preserve and share collections of ancient impressions that may have otherwise been lost or smuggled.Brazils Araripe Basin is lush with ancient fossils, some in unusually pristine condition. After a visit to the nearby Plcido Cidade Nuvens Museum of Paleontology (MPPCN), where many of them are stored, Silva saw a labyrinth of floor-to-ceiling metal shelving units that was stacked high with piles of the most beautiful fossils hed ever seen from the Cretaceous period, as described by Smithsonian Magazine. The problem was the collection of insects, fish, turtles and pterosaurs from a distant past hadnt been digitized. And, given the regions limited funding, staffing and remote location (getting there requires a flight on a four-seater puddle-jumper of a plane), there wasnt much hope for remedying that.Another problem the museum (and others like it) faced was illegal fossil trafficking. The Araripe Basin is a prime target for the ruthless exploitation of historical resources by smugglers and wealthier nations. Digitizing the fossils could help thwart that practice both by providing virtual scans, which help offset the risk-benefit ratio for smugglers, and by creating a global dataset paleontologists could use to trace stolen artifacts to their source.Empowering resource-poor museums and institutions to scan their own fossils and provide virtual versions of those fossils to the rest of the world, I think, would really help the scientific community, but also the institutions themselves, paleontologist Akinobu Watanabe with the New York Institute of Technology told Smithsonian Magazine.Claudio Silva / PaleoScanSilva, an expert in graphics visualization and geometry processing, saw an opportunity. He departed the MPPCN, promising to return in two years to help digitize their collection. Given the breadth of that task, it wouldnt have been surprising to hear some snickers or sarcastic jokes from staff after he took off on his flight back to the US.The solution Silva created is PaleoScan, a low-cost, high-throughput scanner that he packed into large wooden boxes on his journey back to MPPCN in the summer of 2023. Designed to fill in the gaps between hard-to-reach fossil collections and the global community of paleontologists, the device produces high-quality 3D fossil reconstructions through cheap and relatively portable scanning.Adaptable for different fossil sizes, PaleoScan uses a downward-facing camera on an automatic gantry. Its calibration board allows for batch scanning with simple correction for scale and offset camera positioning. The device costs less than commercial 3D fossil scanners, is more easily transportable than CT (computed tomography) scanners and is much easier to operate, even for the less technically inclined.PaleoScans camera is mounted to a frame moving on two axes. It takes thousands of individual raw photos of a fossil under controlled light conditions, as described by Smithsonian Magazine. Meanwhile, the person operating it only needs to navigate a touchscreen (which, in videos, appears to be a repurposed mobile device).Claudio Silva / PaleoScanOnce scanned, the photo batch is uploaded to the cloud for processing, where software stitches them together into highly detailed 3D models. The processed data can then be saved in a metadatabase and made available via an API for paleontologists around the world to study and share. (Think something like a GitHub for fossil enthusiasts.)The researchers say the resulting reconstructions are validated as highly accurate. Museum workers can receive tutorial videos with step-by-step instructions for operating the scanner.Over 200 unique fossils, using over a terabyte of high-quality data, have already been digitized at the MPPCN, and the response from the paleontology community has been receptive and enthusiastic. Researchers unrelated to the project were impressed with the scanner and hoped to get their hands on versions for other remote regions in Mexico and Chile. Some have requested an upgraded model with true 3D capabilities rather than the current two-axis version ideal for the Araripe Basins mostly flat fossils, something Silva says is already in the works.For more on PaleoScans innovation and future, you can check out the research paper and Smithsonian Magazines in-depth write-up.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/paleoscan-is-a-cheap-imaging-device-democratizing-fossil-research-190034334.html?src=rss

Simplify your home office with Anker's new chargers that can charge EVERYTHING from a single plug laptops, phones, headphones and the rest.

Bitcoin miner Core Scientific is expanding its AI business through a $6.7 billion partnership with cloud company CoreWeave.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is investigating major U.S. banks for their handling of customer funds on the peer-to-peer payments platform Zelle Network, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.The probe focuses on JPMorgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo among other large banks, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.JPMorgan last week had disclosed in a filing that it was responding to the CFPBs inquiries regarding Zelle and was considering whether to sue the U.S. consumer watchdog over the agencys inquiries.Wells Fargo also has previously disclosed in public filings that government authorities have been probing the handling of customer disputes via Zelle.The proliferation of fraud and scams on Zelle, which is owned by seven major banks including JPMorgan and Bank of America, has drawn attention from U.S. lawmakers including Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren and regulators concerned about consumer protection.Banks have argued that covering the cost of scams will encourage more fraud and potentially cost billions of dollars.Spokespeople for JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, BofA and the CFPB declined to comment.In a statement, Early Warning Services, the operator of Zelle, said it has proactively taken steps to go above the law by leading the industry in scam reimbursement efforts, and noted that 99.95% of transactions are completed without any reports of fraud or scams.Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat who chairs a U.S. Senate subcommittee focused on investigations, called on the CFPB on Monday to investigate dispute resolution practices at Early Warning Services, as well as JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and BofA.That request followed a report from his committee which found reimbursements for unauthorized transactions on Zelle fell significantly over a five-year period.Zelle and the banks that own it have failed to fully safeguard consumers from a growing threat of scams and fraud, Blumenthal said in a statement. I look forward to the CFPB reviewing our findings and conducting a thorough investigation.Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat and Hannah Lang, Reuters

A retrospective of architect IM Pei at the M+ Museum in Hong Kong, aims to examine his architectural projects in social, cultural and political context.Named IM Pei: Life is Architecture, the exhibition, which according to the museum is the first full-scale retrospective of the Chinese American architect, documented Pei's seven-decade long career.IM Pei: Life is Architecture is on show at M+ Museum in Hong KongCurated by M+ Museum design and architecture curator Shirley Suryaand Nieuwe Instituut director Aric Chen, the exhibition features more than 400 objects, including original drawings, models, photographs, films, and documentation that has never been exhibited before.The curators approached the exhibition through six chapters, summarising Pei's life and work that "not only define his unique practice, but also place his architectural projects in dialogue with social, cultural, and biographical trajectories, showing architecture and life to be inseparable"."Though one of the world's most famous architects, IM Pei and his contributions are relatively little understood," said co-curator Surya. "We hope this exhibition will further shed light on a figure who influenced countless individuals, cities, and, indeed, the world."it features more than 400 objects, some of which have never been on display beforeThe exhibition begins with an introduction of Pei's upbringing and architectural education, which laid the foundation of his future practice of confronting tradition and modernity across various cultures.It then follows with his lesser-known period of working for Webb & Knapp in New York, the largest real-estate development company during post-war America, where he contributed to the regeneration of US cities in the 1960s.A mockup of the Muse du Louvre pyramid occupies the centre of the exhibition. Photo by Wilson LamOne of them is Bedford-Stuyvesant Superblock in Brooklyn New York, one of the largest African-American communities in the country at the time, where Pei proposed integrating landscaped paths, parks, and playgrounds to the gridded streets for the local community to gather and social."For Pei, the success of urban redevelopment was inseparable from broad programmatic thinking intended to alleviate social and economic ills," said Surya.The curators believe Pei's work should be studied moreAt the centre of the exhibition stands a mockup of Paris's Muse du Louvre pyramid, perhaps Pei's best-known project, on a base displaying media coverage of the project from the time of its construction.According to Surya, Pei is understudied but often reported, which informed the curatorial direction of the exhibition.Read: 10 of IM Pei's most significant buildings"It's interesting to argue the value of architecture lies in theories or in production," Surya told Dezeen. "Our angle here is it's as a production.""It's no longer just about how you design it, but what it looks like, how it was conceived, how did it get manifested, what does it mean to the public, it's not just about a formal analysis, is it this '-ism' or that '-ism', he doesn't play that game, he just built," she continued.The exhibition highlights Pei's contribution to urban designThe exhibition concluded with a chapter called Reinterpreting History through Design, which aims to demonstrate how Pei's made modern architecture relevant to different histories and traditions.This section included the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, where Pei aimed to create a form that can translate to a monumental scale for the large museum.Informed by Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, its formal, spatial, and material simplicity was appropriate for the context of Qatar, a young nation with no particular architectural tradition for a building of this scale.Pei's Museum of Islamic Art aims to be both traditional and modern. Photo by Mohamed SomjiSome projects are repeatedly mentioned across various chapters, as intended by the curators to show consistency in Pei's work."We want people to see the process of each theme crosses geographies and periods, there's a consistency a commitment to city, to history and tradition and how you approach it, some projects recurs," said Surya."Pei drew from the regional while shaping the global. His work articulated artistic and cultural ideals while forging urban skylinesnegotiated through dialogue and collaboration, and with results that innovated architectural forms and feats of engineering," she added.The photography is by Dan Leung, courtesy of M+, unless stated otherwise.IM Pei: Life is Architecture is on display from 29 June 2024 to 5 January 2025 at the M+ Museum. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.The post IM Pei retrospective shows "architecture and life to be inseparable" appeared first on Dezeen.

Get ready for the big winter update in the prologue quest this month.Some teases, a prologue quest and Sevagoth Prime Access are coming this month.

Long-running 3D software gets a timely update (yes, including AI) in 3DCoat 2024.

Retro game design from a galaxy far, far away.