They came up with a new logo that will be shown on all new TVs and devices that can support the new ATSC 3 antenna TV that is in process of rolling out around the country. You might see the logo (and the new 8K logo) on TVs in stores beginning next year.
The new standard is being tested around the country now, but you will need to get a dongle for your TV to see or wait for the new TVs to come with it built in, as is with ATSC 1 on current TVs. Current antennas and cables will work for both.
The new standard should offer 4K over your current antenna as well as two-way communication, immersive Dolby audio, and more. It will provide local and national emergency alerts, even if the TV is turned off. The only downside is that it is two-way, meaning the TV companies can now check what we are watching and provide more direct ads to us.
Incidentally, broadcasters are required to provide the current service for five more years, so you can ignore NextGen TV for a while.
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Screen Casting vs.
Mirroring - Screen Mirroring and Screen Casting are often
used interchangeably, but they are different.
With Screen Mirroring,
everything you see on your smartphone, including streaming
services, apps, videos, web pages, and other content on your TV.
In addition to content, the smartphone's menu bars and status
icons appear on your TV.
Casting involves
showing just the chosen content shows on to your TV screen, no
phone menu bars or status icons. If a smartphone app is
compatible with casting, such as YouTube or Netflix, the Cast
Logo
will appear near the
top of your smartphone screen of the app you want to cast.
As content plays, you
can perform other tasks on your phone at the same time including
finding other content to cast, make a phone call, or turn the
phone off. The casted content will play on the TV until you
change to another app, channel, or setting on the TV.
Alaska has more coastline than the rest of the United States
combined at about 34,000 miles (54,563 km). Alaska has more
inland water than any other state (20,171 square miles). It is
the only state to have coastlines on three different seas: the
Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Bering Sea. New Hampshire
has the shortest at 131 mi (211 km)
To reduce ads and
mailers, create an account with the Direct Marketing Association You can
cancel mailings from a few thousand organizations, individually
or in bulk, as well as to stop many catalogs, promotional
flyers, donation requests, and even “Current Resident” junk
mail. For two dollars, you get a 10 year stoppage.
Catalog Choice
is a similar option, and free, but it covers only catalogs, and
you have to cancel mail from each brand individually. If your
mailbox is regularly stuffed with coupons, the ubiquitous coupon
slinger Valpak has its own opt-out form, and RetailMeNot,
which sends mailers from many big brands, lets you cancel online. (If you actually like
some coupons, remember this option stops all mailings.)
Scientists have found there is little evidence
that eating red meat causes health problems. Ian Johnson, a
nutritional expert at the UK’s Quadram Institute, welcomed the
new findings, telling Reuters, “This study will, I hope, help to
eliminate the incorrect impression… that some meat products are
as carcinogenic as cigarette smoke, and to discourage dramatic
media headlines claiming that ‘bacon is killing us’.”
The research, led by
Dalhousie University and McMaster University in Canada, counters
official guidance from the World Health Organization, which in
2015 labelled meat a carcinogenic.
The new paper was based
on the research of an international team of specialists and
published on this month in Annals of Internal Medicine. Bradley
Johnston, associate professor at Dalhousie University, said,
“Based on the research, we cannot say with any certainty that
eating red or processed meat causes cancer, diabetes, or heart
disease.”
The study’s author
elaborated, “From 12 randomized controlled trials enrolling
about 54,000 individuals, we did not find a statistically
significant or an important association in the risk of heart
disease, cancer, or diabetes for those that consumed less red or
processed meat."
"In the meantime, the
best we can do is understand the parameters of the evidence that
we do have. While the precise downsides of bacon, for example,
are unclear and possibly nonexistent, what is apparent is that
we don’t really have enough evidence to consider it a bad food."
Some scientists have been pushing to stop meat consumption on
the grounds that it is bad for one’s health, others have led
with the angle that it must be reduced because of the so-called
‘climate emergency’.
Happiness is infectious
and incalculable.
I am overcome with
happiness, especially on a Happy Friday!
Most people are not aware that undersea cables carry over 99% of
the internet and other electronic traffic between continents,
with the small remainder provided by satellites.
The first
transcontinental undersea cable was completed in 1858 to deliver
telegraph messages between the US and England. As of 2019, there
are over 400 active undersea fiber cables in place that stretch
over 745,000 miles (1,198,961km). Cables are laid down using
specially-modified ships that carry the submarine cable on board
and slowly lay it out on the seabed. Undersea cables are
designed for a 25-year life, and so cables are regularly being
retired and replaced.
These cables are owned
by countries, cable operators, and companies, such as Google,
Facebook, etc. Huawei Marine Networks Co., majority owned by the
Chinese telecom giant, recently completed a 3,750-mile cable
between Brazil and Cameroon. It also recently started work on a
7,500-mile cable connecting Europe, Asia, and Africa in addition
to finishing up links across the Gulf of California in Mexico.
There is an average of
about 25 undersea fiber cuts per year, caused by earthquakes,
underwater mudslides, ship anchors, and even a few from sharks.
Repairs are made by ships that pull the cut ends of the fiber to
the surface and splice them back together.
Incidentally,
as an indicator of speed, 4.8 million HD movies could stream
at the same time in high-definition through one strand, in one
direction, of the 4,104 mile (6,600km) Marea cable from Spain
to the United States. The cable is composed of an eight-pairs
fiber-optic thread bundle, a bit larger than the size of a
garden hose.
I was surprised to read researchers found that seventy five
percent of men over fifty were not able to identify the
prostate’s main function correctly. That is a bit troubling as
they are group likely to have problems.
About one man in nine will be diagnosed with prostate cancer
during his lifetime, but only one in thirty nine will die of
this disease. About 80% of men who reach age eighty have cancer
cells in their prostate. According to the American Cancer
Society, prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in US
men, behind skin cancer.
The prostate is about the size of a ping pong ball, weighs about
an ounce, and is located between the base of the penis and the
rectum. The gland is responsible for supplying seminal fluid
that mixes with sperm, helping it survive and travel from the
testes.
Just over one-third of respondents were able to correctly
identify associated disorders, such as Erectile Dysfunction
(ED), and benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). Benign prostate
hyperplasia (BPH), and erectile dysfunction (ED) are separate
problems, but curable. BPH causes problems in the bathroom and
ED in the bedroom. A range of treatments can relieve enlarged
prostate symptoms, such as medications, minimally-invasive
office procedures, and surgery.
Prostate cancer comes
in many varieties and most are slow growing and non-life
threatening. However, there are some that escape the prostate
and move to other parts of the body. These are called metastatic
prostate cancer and can grow in organs, bones, lymph nodes, etc.
The PSA test is a blood
test used primarily to screen for prostate cancer. It measures
the amount of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood. A
score of less than 4 is considered a safe level, 4 to 10 is
suspicious, and above that is considered dangerous. PSA is a
protein produced by both cancerous and noncancerous tissue in
the prostate. The test became very popular and led to more
aggressive treatment than necessary, so lately doctors are less
apt to prescribe the test for men over 70, because many types of
prostate cancer are slow growing. The problem is that some are
fast growing and if not caught, could be fatal. Another test is
the uncomfortable rectal finger test to find abnormalities on
the prostate surface.
Bottom line is that it
is good to be tested and not to fear the word cancer when it
comes to prostate. Ninety two percent of men who have caught it
early survive and die of other causes, not because of the
cancer.
Here are a few you might not have known are Canadian: Pamela
Anderson, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Jim Carrey, Tommy Chong,
Michael J. Fox, Ryan Gosling, Lorne Green, Mathew Perry, Keanu
Reeves (by naturalization), Ryan Reynolds, Seth Rogan, William
Shatner, and Martin Short.
Incidentally Bruce
Willis was born in Germany as was Martin Lawrence, Joaquin
Phoenix born in Puerto Rico, Freddie Mercury born Tanzania,
Lou Diamond Phillips born Philippines, Mel Gibson born in New
York, and Charlize Theron in South Africa.
Wow, 4k is not even the current standard and the TV companies
are already pushing the next generation. It will be a few years
before 4K is standard and a few more years after that for 8K
movies and shows to kick in.
Currently, broadcast
TV, such as CBS, NBC, etc., and cable providers have no short
term plan or intention to even consider 4K. They are too busy
scrambling to squeeze every penny out of current outdated low
resolution shows. They have been given the gift of 4K upscaling
built into new TVs to make pictures look better.
The logo can be used
starting in January 2020.
To use that logo, a TV
must have resolution of "at least 33 million active pixels, with
at least 7680 horizontally and 4320 vertically within a 16:9
viewable window." One or more of the HDMI inputs must support
"7680x4320 pixels; bit depth of 10-bits; frame rates of 24, 30
and 60 frames per second; HDR transfer functions and colorimetry
as specified by ITU-R BT.2100; and HDCP v2.2 or equivalent
content protection." It must also be able to upconvert SD, HD
and 4K video for display at 8K resolution and be able to receive
and render 10-bit 8K images.
Bottom line, if you
need or want a new TV, save your money and get a 4K TV. Experts
recommend a 65 inch as the smallest 4K TV to buy so you can
enjoy the wonderful resolution.
Jelly Belly's inventor, David Klein recently launched a
business called Spectrum Confections that makes jelly beans
infused with cannabidiol, or CBD, the non-psychoactive component
of marijuana. The jelly beans come in 38 flavors and each bean
contains 10 milligrams of CBD.
Roku is the company which supplies TVs with its own operating
system and a number of devices to hook into other TVs for the
purpose of bypassing the cable companies and providing streaming
TV shows and movies. It has 52 million such devices in the
market. Amazon has 30% of the streaming stick market and Roku
37%. In addition, one third of all branded smart TVs use the
Roku operating system.
The Roku name comes
from the Japanese word 六 (roku) meaning "six" and was named so
because it was the sixth company that Anthony Wood, founder and
CEO started.