Month: February 2022

Enlarge / Touchscreen devices like the Surface will benefit from some of the new features in the latest Windows 11 preview builds. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Microsoft famously went all-in on a tablet-centric touchscreen interface with Windows 8, and the company has spent pretty much every major Windows release since then slowly backing away from that decision. That retreat culminated in Windows 11, which fully removed the last vestiges of Tablet Mode that had survived in Windows 10.

But the last couple Windows 11 Insider Preview builds have augmented Windows 11’s touchscreen capabilities. The build released to Dev channel users last week included new gestures, changes to how snapping windows works when in tablet mode, and a few other improvements. And a new build released today totally overhauls the taskbar for touchscreens.

Windows 11 in its current form adds more space between icons when you’re using your device as a tablet, but the new preview goes further. When you’re using apps, the taskbar will shrink to a narrow strip across the bottom of the screen: it’s still tall enough to show the clock and your network, sound, and battery status icons, but all your pinned apps and other system tray icons are hidden. Swiping up from the bottom of the screen or closing an app window brings up a new, larger version of the taskbar with larger, more finger-friendly icons and spacing. The taskbar disappears again once you’ve launched your app.

Enlarge / High-voltage electricity towers and power lines at a substation in Central California. (credit: Getty Images | Sundry Photography)

Three men yesterday pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists for their roles in a white supremacist plot to attack US power grids.

“These three defendants admitted to engaging in a disturbing plot, in furtherance of white supremacist ideology, to attack energy facilities in order to damage the economy and stoke division in our country,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olsen said in a Department of Justice announcement.

The defendants are Christopher Brenner Cook, 20, of Columbus, Ohio; Jonathan Allen Frost, 24, of West Lafayette, Indiana, and of Katy, Texas; and Jackson Matthew Sawall, 22, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. They were charged in US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and face maximum prison sentences of 15 years. The plea agreements recommend post-prison supervised release of 30 years with computer monitoring and a ban on the use of “online encrypted communication platforms.”

Artist’s conception of the jockeying for position between EA and FIFA in this licensing fight.

We’ve known for months that EA has been questioning the value of its nearly three-decade-long relationship with FIFA, the international soccer governing body whose name has become synonymous with an ultra-popular video game series. Now, though, newly leaked statements attributed to EA CEO Andrew Wilson detail how “ironically, the FIFA license has actually been an impediment” to some of the ways EA wants to “grow the franchise.”

“Our players tell us they want more modes of play, different things beyond 11 vs. 11 and different types of gameplay,” Wilson said in a November all-hands meeting, according to a Video Games Chronicle report. “I would tell you, it’s been a fight to get FIFA to acknowledge the types of things that we want to create because they say our license only covers certain categories… FIFA is just the name on the box, but they’ve precluded our ability to be able to branch into the areas that players want.”

Beyond gameplay, the FIFA license also limits EA’s ability to include “more cultural and commercial brands” in the game, Wilson reportedly said. FIFA’s existing relationship with Adidas bars the inclusion of any Nike-branded products or imagery in the game, for instance.

Enlarge / The Next Gen Delivery Vehicle looks adorably goofy, but the vast majority of these new mail trucks will belch almost exactly as much carbon dioxide into the air as the old Grumman LLV trucks. (credit: USPS)

In February 2021, the United States Postal Service made a controversial decision to replace its fleet of aging and inefficient mail trucks with a new fleet made up almost entirely of new, inefficient diesel mail trucks. Although the vast majority of USPS delivery routes are ideally suited for electric vehicles, the USPS decided that a mere 10 percent of the planned order would be battery electric.

In early February 2022, that decision resulted in severe criticism from the US Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, who accused the Postal Service of failing to properly examine the environmental impact of its decision, as required by law.

This week, the USPS released its final record of decision and record of environmental consideration for the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle purchase. And it’s bad news for anyone who cares about climate change or air pollution, as the Postal Service has dug in and refuses to alter its plans. That means that 90 percent of the 50,000-165,000 NGDVs that are being ordered will use gasoline and will only average 8.6 mpg (28.86 L/100 km) when used with air conditioning.