LG isn’t as much of a powerhouse in the Android phone market as they used to be. They’re still one of the top players, but their strategies and offerings have not propelled them into the lead. They obviously believe it’s time for a change, hence, we get to say goodbye to the G Series devices. That’s a long line of devices that shook the market in the early days, and maintained some of the best mobile audio offerings in the latter years.Â
LG maintained a lead in mobile audio by not only keeping the headphone jack on most devices, but also including their Quad DAC on many phones. Over-simplifying things, the Quad DAC enables LG devices to drive some serious headphones, the kinds of cans that other phones require an external amp to manage, making the LG G and V series phones ideal for wired headphone fans.
If you’ve jumped on the Bluetooth headphone bandwagon, LG’s Quad DAC technology is not an advantage for you. LG does well with Bluetooth audio, but with the increasing popularity of wireless audio, users are not intrigued by the G and V series selling point of superb wired audio. We hope LG continues to support quality wired audio, but for now we must say goodbye to the G series, and say hello to the new Velvet.
Speaking of things being discontinued at LG, we suspect one of their media divisions has lost their right to post on social media, if not their jobs. This after an embarrassing promotion using the LG V60 for upskirt photography. Stuff like this was never really appropriate, but companies can expect swift backlash from the global community for trying it again, and that’s probably a good thing.
That’s it, folks! We’ll have another giveaway and more top Android stories for you next week. To stay up to date on all things Android Authority in the meantime, be sure to subscribe to our newsletters at the link below.
The South African Football Association (Safa) has welcomed the clarity given by Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa on how Level 3 lockdown regulations affect various sporting codes.
The country is set to enter relaxed social distancing restrictions from Monday, with non-contact sports given the green light to resume training.
Green light to resume training
During his briefing on Saturday, Mthethwa said contact sports such as football would remain prohibited from resuming play under Level 3, although athletes are allowed to return to the training ground under strict social distancing measures.
Safa has welcomed this call by the minister, saying it will comply fully with the regulations.
“We welcome the fact that athletes can start training under strict specific conditions. Furthermore, there are requirements for a thorough monitoring of all athletes to ensure full compliance.
“It is also clear that contact sport like football and rugby among others cannot resume competitively under alert Level 3 from the Minister’s briefing on Saturday,†said SAFA Acting CEO, Tebogo Motlanthe.
Tebogo Motlanthe, Safa Acting CEO
How local soccer has been implemented by the lockdown
There has been no top-level action in the South African soccer fraternity since early March, when the Premier Soccer League (PSL) decided to suspend amid the growing spread of the global pandemic.
The hiatus has not only affected domestic fixtures but also national teams – most notably Bafana Bafana, who had a busy schedule in 2020 due to involvement in the 2021 Afcon and 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
Safa – along with the PSL and other stakeholders – have previously met with Mthethwa regarding the conditions under which play can resume.
Mthethwa said he was open to further engagement from various sports federations on the matter.
“Safa welcomes such continued engagements, mindful of the negative financial impact COVID-19 has had on sport in general. Football, rugby and cricket are amongst the major sporting codes that have been heavily impacted by the pandemic,†added Motlanthe.
A spokesperson for Russia’s space agency took a dig at the U.S. after the successful launch of two U.S. astronauts aboard a SpaceX craft bound for the International Space Station (ISS)–while also describing President Donald Trump’s praise of the successful mission as “hysteria.”
“The hysteria raised after the successful launch of the [SpaceX] Crew Dragon spacecraft is hard to understand,” Vladimir Ustimenko, a spokesperson for Roscosmos, wrote on Twitter, referring to Trump’s statement.
“What has happened should have happened long ago. Now it’s not only the Russians flying to the ISS, but also the Americans. Well that’s wonderful!” he added.
NASA had relied on Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, to transport American astronauts to the ISS since the U.S. space agency’s final space shuttle flight in 2011. Since then, the U.S. had been working with SpaceX and Boeing to end its reliance on Russia for transport into space.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the manned Crew Dragon spacecraft attached takes off from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on May 30 in Cape Canaveral, Florida Joe Raedle/Getty
On Saturday, SpaceX, which is owned by billionaire Elon Musk, successfully launched to astronauts from a NASA launchpad in Florida, which previously served as the launch point for the historic Apollo and space shuttle missions. The Crew Dragon attached to the Falcon 9 rocket took off at 3:22 p.m. after a previous launch was aborted last Wednesday due to poor weather conditions. On Sunday, the Crew Dragon arrived and docked at the space station.
Newsweek has reached out to NASA and the Russian embassy in Washington, D.C. for further comment.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said after the Crew Dragon launch, that NASA and Roscomos would likely maintain positive ties moving forward.
“They [Roscosmos] believe in the partnership and so I think it’s going to remain strong,” Bridenstine said.
Trump hailed the launch as major progress in space exploration by the U.S.
“Today, the groundbreaking partnership between NASA and SpaceX has given our nation the gift of an unmatched power — a state-of-the-art spaceship to put our astronauts into orbit at a fraction of the cost of the space shuttle. And it’s much better,” Trump said Saturday, praising the launch of the Crew Dragon.
The president said the astronauts aboard the SpaceX craft had now joined “the ranks of just seven prior American astronauts who have made the perilous maiden voyage to test a new class of spacecraft.”
“From now on, the United States will leverage the fast-growing capabilities of our commercial sector and the finest pieces of real estate on Earth, which you need very badly, to send U.S. astronauts into space,” Trump added. “Today’s launch makes clear that the commercial space industry is the future.”
The U.S. and Russia, formerly the Soviet Union, have been competitive about space exploration for decades. The Soviet Union kicked off the space race by becoming the first nation in the world to send a man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, into outer space in 1957. They then sent the first human into space to orbit the Earth, Russian Lt. Yuri Gagarin, a few years later in 1961.
Alan Shepard was the first American to fly into space one year later in 1962, while the first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, launched into space came in 1958. Although Russia initially led the space race, the U.S. became the first country to land a man on the moon in 1969.
When Rose Wang called the customer service line at Zappos, all she wanted was a quick confirmation that a gift receipt was included with the hot pink Crocs she had ordered for her mother for Mother’s Day.
But a few minutes into the call, Ms. Wang, 33, realized something felt different.
After helping her with the gift receipt, the customer service representative, who was based in Las Vegas, started making small talk. In a calming voice that reminded Ms. Wang of a grandmother, the representative told her that she, too, found it nearly impossible to buy gifts for her mother.
Amid the isolation of the coronavirus pandemic, Ms. Wang was willing — eager, actually — to chat. The two women ended up discussing mother-daughter relationships, a favorite Brazilian restaurant in Las Vegas and a girls’ trip to Hawaii.
The conversation lasted nearly 45 minutes.
“To hear someone on the West Coast commiserate with me and talk about their plans and what they wanted to do after the quarantine — it felt very connecting,†Ms. Wang, who lives in New York, said.
Customer service representatives, even on the best of days, typically field a lot of complaints — missing deliveries, unsatisfied customers and other gripes. But these days, with people grappling with financial insecurity, separation from their friends and family, and uncertainty, the tone has changed. Rather than viewing calls as a form of drudgery, some people seem to relish having a person on the other end of the line to talk with.
Sensing the shifting need, and wanting to make use of customer service representatives whose call volume was down, Zappos, the online merchant best known for its shoes, in April revamped its customer service line: People could call just to chat — about their future travel plans, Netflix shows or anything on their minds.
“Sure, we take orders and process returns, but we’re also great listeners,†Zappos said in a statement on its website. “Searching for flour to try that homemade bread recipe? We’re happy to call around and find grocery stores stocked with what you need.â€
“We’re seeing signals that this is something we may want to maintain as the world reopens,†he said. Even before the new service line officially started, Zappos had said its customer service representatives were available just to chat. One call, several years ago, lasted nearly 11 hours, the company said.
People have called to have conversations about their life stories. Single parents at home with small children have called, grateful to speak with another adult. Teenagers have called asking for homework help.
The most common questions, Mr. Kalma said, are where to find a nearby medical center or how to find household supplies that are out of stock at local stores.
But the new line is good for more than helping to stock toilet paper.
In mid-April, around the time when coronavirus patients were filling New York City hospitals and equipment was in short supply, David F. Putrino, the director of rehabilitation innovation for the Mount Sinai Health System, reached out to Zappos looking for pulse oximeters, devices that indicate blood oxygen level and heart rate.
The devices were sold out or on back-order everywhere he looked. To his amazement, Zappos was able to locate the devices. Within days, the company had shipped 500 oximeters to Mount Sinai — and later donated an additional 50.
“It was, like, unbelievable from our perspective,†he said.
Crystal Mouzon, the Zappos customer service representative who spoke with Ms. Wang, the woman in New York, said customers regularly told her that her voice was soothing.
“I bring ’em on in,†Ms. Mouzon, 60, said. “If they have an anxiety, I just calm them down, and we just talk about anything.†She said she chatted with callers as if they were her friends.
“We laughed and talked about so much,†Ms. Mouzon said of her conversation with Ms. Wang. “Every time she was going to hang up, she would ask me something else, and then we laughed and talked about that.â€
Protesters demanding justice and change in the wake of the latest police killing of a Black man were joined in solidarity on Saturday by officers in Ferguson, Missouri, where Michael Brown, a Black teen, was killed by police in 2014.
Ferguson Police Chief Jason Armstrong, who joined the department last year, took a knee in honor of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck while Floyd was restrained on the ground.Â
Videos posted to Twitter captured Armstrong at one point marching with protesters who were chanting “hands up, don’t shoot,â€Â as well as several Ferguson police officers kneeling on the pavement to applause from the crowd.
Peaceful protest happening now in Ferguson. As a show of solidarity the Ferguson Police Chief marched alongside protestors. @KMOVpic.twitter.com/rEXh2rWZOk
— Ashli Lincoln KMOV (@AshliLincoln) May 31, 2020
Armstrong and his officers joined about 500 people that had gathered outside of the police department in protest, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
For weeks in August 2014, Ferguson was the scene of violent protests after a white police officer fatally shot Brown, who was unarmed, for what he claimed were self-defense reasons.Â
An HIP intern was filming a protest in Ferguson, MO at the police station when this happened…. As the protest leader called for a 9 1/2 minute knee in honor of George Floyd; Ferguson police of every color also took a knee in joint honor with protest. #WeStandTogetherpic.twitter.com/6iN0dMroby
Ferguson “was a wake up call to law enforcement. It definitely got my attention. It forced me to look at what (police) were doing,†Armstrong, who is Black, told the Post-Dispatch. “It opened my eyes to be a leader, to build that change and build better relationships.â€
The Ferguson police department on Saturday was later partially evacuated after protesters smashed its windows with bricks and other heavy debris, according to the St. Louis County Police Department, which said it was assisting the situation.
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This morning, SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon capsule successfully docked with the International Space Station, bringing the company’s first crew to the orbiting outpost. Their arrival marks another major milestone for SpaceX’s first crewed mission of the Crew Dragon, which successfully took off yesterday, May 30th, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Now, the Crew Dragon’s passengers — NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley — are set to begin an extended stay on board the ISS that could last up to four months. They will join three crew mates already living on board the station: NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner.
“It’s been a real honor to be a small part of this nine-year endeavor since the last time a United States spaceship docked with the International Space Station,†Hurley said after docking completed. “We have to congratulate the men and women of SpaceX, at Hawthorne McGregor and at Kennedy Space Center. Their incredible efforts over the last several years to make this possible can not go overstated.â€
The Crew Dragon’s docking showcased one of the biggest features of SpaceX’s capsule: its automated docking system. The vehicle is designed to autonomously approach the ISS and latch on to a standardized docking port, without any input from its human passengers. SpaceX successfully showcased this ability last year when the company sent a test version of the Crew Dragon to the space station without a crew on board. But this time, the company needed to prove that the Crew Dragon could deliver when it had its most precious cargo on board.
This automated docking capability is a significant upgrade for the Crew Dragon. The predecessor to the capsule, SpaceX’s cargo Dragon, did not have this capability when it delivered supplies and food to the ISS. For all of those cargo missions, astronauts on board the ISS had to use the station’s robotic arm to grab hold of an approaching cargo Dragon and bring it onto a docking port. That technique is known as berthing, and it requires a lot of work from the astronauts on board the ISS. The Crew Dragon’s automated capabilities should help free up time for the astronauts to work on other things when new crews arrive.
The Crew Dragon as seen from the space station, about two hours before the capsule docked with the ISS.Image: NASA
Astronauts flying inside the Crew Dragon still have the capability to take over manual control of the vehicle if necessary. In fact, Behnken and Hurley tried out some manual flying during their time in space — once after launching and a second time during their approach to the space station. Flying the vehicle manually involves interfacing with the Crew Dragon’s sleek interior touchscreen displays. The gloves of SpaceX’s pressure suits are touchscreen-compatible, allowing the astronauts to interact with the screens while suited up if necessary. When the crew got to 220 meters out from the ISS, Hurley demonstrated that he could fly the vehicle while gloved before the automatic docking system took over. The plumes from the capsule’s tiny thrusters could be seen from the space station’s cameras as the vehicle inched toward the ISS.
Plumes as Endeavour approaches the ISS.Image: NASA / SpaceX
Their docking comes after the astronauts spent about 19 hours inside Crew Dragon orbiting around Earth, following Saturday’s launch. After reaching orbit, Behnken and Hurley announced that they had named their capsule Endeavour. “We chose Endeavour for a few reasons: one, because of this incredible endeavor NASA, SpaceX, and the United States has been on since the end of the Shuttle program back in 2011,†Hurley said during an event right after launching to space. “The other reason we named it Endeavour is a little more personal to Bob and I. We both had our first flights on Shuttle Endeavour, and it just meant so much to us to carry on that name.â€
During the journey in space, Behnken and Hurley got some shut-eye before approaching the ISS to get a better sense of what sleeping on the Crew Dragon is like. It turns out, it’s a comfortable place for a nap. “We had a good night’s sleep last night,†Behnken said during an event before arriving at the ISS. “We were surprised, I think, in how well we actually slept aboard the vehicle — a little bit quieter than the Space Shuttle, a little bit more environmentally controlled.†The Crew Dragon also sports a toilet in case they needed to use the facilities during the trip (though the crew did not say if they used it).
Docking took place around 10:29AM ET this morning, and now it’s a little bit of a wait before Behnken and Hurley exit the vehicle. The astronauts will open the hatch of the Crew Dragon at around 12:45PM ET. The crew will then host a small welcoming ceremony about 30 minutes later.
Now that Behnken and Hurley have arrived at the ISS, it’s unclear when they’ll be coming home. The two are expected to stay somewhere between six and 16 weeks on board the ISS. It all depends on how much work NASA wants them to do while they’re up there. At some point, NASA will decide when to bring the duo home. That’s when Behnken and Hurley will climb back inside the Crew Dragon and take the plunge back to Earth.
Endeavour in the shadow of the ISS.Image: NASA / SpaceX
The Crew Dragon is equipped with a heat shield to protect astronauts from the scorching trip through Earth’s atmosphere. It also sports four parachutes designed to help lower crews gently down into the Atlantic Ocean, where they’ll be recovered by a SpaceX vessel. That intense journey will be the final test of the Crew Dragon for NASA as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, the initiative to fly NASA astronauts on private vehicles to and from the space station.
For now, SpaceX and the Crew Dragon get a slight reprieve as the first half of this crucial test mission is complete. The crews will perform checks of the Crew Dragon while it’s docked at the ISS, but it will mostly remain inert, like a parked car in a lot. When the time comes for Behnken and Hurley to return home, all eyes will be on the Crew Dragon’s performance once again.
Good morning. It seems ridiculous today, the nation roiled with anger, beset by fear and uncertainty, to tell you how nice it would be to make waffles, to eat in the fog still drifting past the window as the breakfast hour turns to brunch. It seems crazy to be recommending recipes.
What comfort can any of that bring to a country, deeply divided, that together must continue to face a pandemic, an economic breakdown and protests across the nation all at once? Cooking, that joyful act, seems near powerless in the face of our grief and worry, our fury and fix-minded determination, our deep estrangement from one another, our exhausted selves.
And yet it is not. It is one thing you can do that can make someone else’s life a little better, if only for a few minutes. It is a way to offer the world a gift.
I can’t, though. I have no chickens. So I’ll put on my mask and buy some nice eggs today, some good vegetables from the farm, score some oysters, a few pounds of local meat. I’m lucky to be working, lucky to get paid for the labor, lucky to be able to afford my groceries still. I’ll unload my bags, clean everything and I’ll cook for those around me, and for a few others as well, people I know are only holding on by a thread.
Wednesday I won’t even use a recipe, but freestyle my way into a kale salad of heft and means instead. I’ll use what’s left on sandwiches on Thursday and take one to a friend I haven’t seen in months, four blocks away: turkey and the softened kale, some mayonnaise, tiles of Cheddar, decent bread.
And then, to round out the week, nachos because nachos are an excellent way to round out the week. No one doesn’t love nachos.
Many thousands more recipes await your approval on NYT Cooking. A lot more of them than usual are free to use even if you aren’t yet a subscriber to our site and apps. I hope you will think about subscribing anyway. Your subscription supports our work. It allows it to continue.
Finally, a geography lesson. On Friday in this space I put Tampa in southwest Florida, which it’s not. It’s more central-west. I’m sorry for that. See you tomorrow.
The report reveals 11 per cent of the additional spending by those accessing super was on gambling.
As part of its response to the pandemic, the Morrison government is allowing people to withdraw up to $10,000 from their super accounts tax-free now and up to $10,000 next financial year.
When the scheme was announced in March Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said: “this is the people’s money and this is the time they need it most.â€
The analysis shows recipients have accessed an average of around $8000 and spent an extra $2855 in the first fortnight after receiving the withdrawal compared with the same group’s average spending in a normal fortnight before receiving the money.
Around two thirds (64 per cent) of the additional purchases were on discretionary items such as leisure, entertainment, cafes and personal care. Spending on essentials such as groceries accounted for 22 per cent and 14 per cent was used to repay personal debts including credit cards.
AlphaBeta director, economist Andrew Charlton, said the data showed the super withdrawals policy had been poorly conceived and poorly administered.
“People who access their superannuation have made one of the most expensive spending decisions of their lives,†he said.
“While this policy was aimed as a lifeline, what we can see is a strong likelihood of people accessing their super, who really could have kept it working away until their retirement.”
Around 1.4 million applications have so far been approved worth more than $1.3 billion, the most recent Tax Office figures show. Over 460,000 of those making withdrawals were under the age of 30.
Angus Dockrill, a financial planner and co-founder of financial advisory firm IMFG, warned that accessing superannuation prior to retirement could be very costly.
“It should be very much a last resort,†he said. “If you’re a young person withdrawing $10,000, which was probably $12,000 back in January, you are foregoing about $40,000 or $50,000 of your retirement nest egg.â€
To qualify for early release of super you must be unemployed, have been made redundant or had working hours reduced by at least 20 per cent since January 1 (sole traders qualify if their business was suspended or turnover has fallen by 20 per cent or more).
Simon Bligh, the chief executive of illion, said the next round of withdrawals should be more tightly managed.
“Tools are readily available to do this digitally,†he said.
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Brendan Coates, the Grattan Institute’s Household Finances program director, said it would be disappointing if 40 per cent of those able to access the withdrawal scheme had not seen any drop in their income.
“It suggests the need for the ATO to better police the scheme and make applicants aware that penalties will apply if they have used the scheme inappropriately,†he said.
The findings of the spending analysis contrasts with the results of a Bureau of Statistics household survey released last week which asked those who had applied for early access to their superannuation about the “ways they used or planned to use the moneyâ€. More than half the respondents said they had used or planned to use it to pay household bills, mortgage, rent and other debts while 36 per cent said they had added, or planned to add it, to savings.
Matt Wade is a senior economics writer at The Sydney Morning Herald.
Getting ready to reopen our school has involved constant rapid-fire questions. Some bigger than others. “When are you opening? How many can we fit in a room? Have we got enough hand sanitiser? What about pens? What signs will stick to carpets and not be a trip hazard? Have you seen the latest guidance? Where can I find lidded bins? Who ordered hand towels?†An endless artillery barrage of interrogation. “Am I doing the right thing?†is one that hits me hard.
In recent weeks a team of us worked through the school, ruthlessly removing soft furnishings. Gone are chairs outside offices or in little reading nooks. Gone too are bean bags and cushions used by pupils to calm down on before resolving playground disputes.
Next were the classrooms. We measured and counted and stripped out one classroom, until only 10 desks remained. “Where shall we put this?†was the repeated refrain. I had told my staff to store everything in the school hall but didn’t visit it till the end of the day. When I did, I realised why the team’s questions had been so repetitive – the hall was full and we still had three classrooms to go.
As a central London school, every single centimetre of space has been accounted for and has a purpose – storage is as rare as hen’s teeth. Temporary solutions include turning our music room and staff workspace into repurposed cupboards. But when we open more fully, I may have to place a shipping container in our already small playground.
Our risk assessments are clear that we cannot have parents and carers on site. But that means I will lose the most valuable part of my working day: the 40 minutes when my deputy and I stand at the school gate, welcoming families in the morning and wishing them well at the end of the day.
In those 40 minutes we ask and answer questions, drop in bits of news about a child that they might not tell their parents, and we also just chat. Without those human interactions I would never be able to understand pupils’ families and their lives, some of which come with extraordinary challenges, and the support for one another would be diminished. I see our community as “usâ€, rather than “them and usâ€, which sadly is true of some schools. We must find a way to keep going.
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