Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the supply-and-demand department: ArchieBunker quotes a report from Bloomberg: Texas electricity prices soared almost 100-fold as a high number of power-plant outages raised concerns of a potential evening shortfall. Spot prices at the North Hub, which includes Dallas, jumped to more than $3,000 a megawatt-hour just before 7 p.m. local time, versus about $32 at the same time Tuesday, according to data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. This morning, Ercot, as the state's main grid operator is known, issued a "watch" for a potential capacity reserve shortage from about 7-9 p.m., meaning the buffer of spare supplies could fall to low enough levels to call on back-up generation, cancel or delay outages or curb usage.
The conditions are the tightest of the year so far and raises the risk of prices rising to the $5,000 cap -- which they last did on April 16, when Ercot also warned of a potential shortfall. Unusually hot weather in the region has boosted demand for cooling and lowered the efficiency of many power plants. Wind output has also fallen from a day earlier and there are more outages. "Ercot has not called for conservation this evening," it said by email. "The grid is operating under normal conditions at this time."
Posted by from MMO Champion
The War Within Alpha Development Notes - May 9, 2024
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
Here is this week’s update to The War Within Alpha:
NEW ZONES AND DELVES
Azj-Kahet
NEW DUNGEONS
City of Threads
Ara-Kara, City of Echoes
NEW BATTLEGROUND: DEEPHAUL RAVINE
Deephaul Ravine is themed in The Ringing Deeps where the Foreman Uzjax and Architect Ruffious are tasked with collecting as much valuable ore, gems, and crystals for their respective priorities. Ruffious the Unbound Earthen has big plans for the ore and gems found in the Deephaul Ravine, but the Machine Speakers of the Earthenworks are quite possessive of such precious materials. Uzjax and his team plan to secure these materials before Ruffious and his band of misfits get their hands on it.
Mechanics
8v8 and 10v10 Battleground that will be available in all battleground modes.
Hybrid map in which teams earn points by controlling either of the two active mine carts that move along the tracks on the map, or capturing a lucrative gem (the Deephaul Crystal) that is located in the middle of the map.
The Deephaul Crystal can be returned at either capture point located on the high ground on the opposing sides of the map.
Additionally, there’s a mine cart track that runs above the battleground playspace where players can hop in a cart vehicle to quickly traverse the map, allowing for quick engagements and repositioning.
How to playtest: open the Group Finder (default hotkey: i), then select Random Battleground and click Join Battle! Only the Deephaul Ravine map will be available as a Random Battleground map for Alpha.
WARBANDS
< This article continues on their website >
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the new-normal department: Citing a memo distributed to Apple Store employees, 9to5Mac reports that the new iPad Pro and iPad Air lineups will not include Apple stickers in the box -- "a key piece of memorabilia" that dates back as far as 1977's Apple II, notes Ars Technica. While the company says that this is part of its environmental goals to completely remove plastic from its packaging, it begs the question: is the era of stickers in Apple boxes coming to an end? 9to5Mac reports: The M3 MacBook Air that launched in March includes stickers in the box, but Apple Vision Pro (which launched in February) does not. Will the iPhone 16 include stickers in the box? Only time will tell. Ars' Andrew Cunningham writes about the origins of the Apple stickers: Apple has included stickers with its products at least as far back as the Apple II in 1977 when the stickers still said "Apple Computer" on them in the company's then-favored Motter Tektura typeface (I couldn't track down a vintage Apple II unboxing, but I did find some fun photos of Apple enthusiast Dan Budiac opening a sealed-in-box mid-'80s-era Apple IIc, complete with rainbow pack-in stickers). I myself became familiar with them during the height of the iPod in the early to mid-2000s when Apple was still firmly a tech underdog, and people would stick white Apple logo stickers to their cars to show off their non-conformist cred and/or Apple brand loyalty.
As Apple's products became more colorful in the 2010s, the Apple logo stickers would sometimes be color-matched to the device you had just bought, a cute bit of attention to detail that has carried over into present-day MagSafe cables and color-matched iMac keyboards and trackpads. The report notes that you can still request an Apple sticker at Apple Stores at the time of your purchase; however, Amazon, Best Buy, and other retailers don't appear to have them available.
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the despite-big-tech-lobbying department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: The Maryland legislature passed two bills over the weekend limiting tech platforms' ability to collect and use consumers' data. Maryland Governor Wes Moore is expected to sign one of those bills, the Maryland Kids Code, on Thursday, MoCo360 reports. If signed into law, the other bill, the Maryland Online Privacy Act, will go into effect in October 2025. The legislation would limit platforms' ability to collect user data and let users opt out of having their data used for targeted advertising and other purposes. Together, the bills would significantly limit social media and other platforms' ability to track their users -- but tech companies, including Amazon, Google, and Meta, have opposed similar legislation. Lawmakers say the goal is to protect children, but tech companies say the bills are a threat to free speech.
Part of the Maryland Kids Code -- the Maryland Age-Appropriate Design Code Act -- will go into effect much sooner, on October 1st. It bans platforms from using "system design features to increase, sustain, or extend the use of the online product," including autoplaying media, rewarding users for spending more time on the platform, and spamming users with notifications. Another part of the legislation prohibits certain video game, social media, and other platforms from tracking users who are younger than 18. "It's meant to rein in some of the worst practices with sensible regulation that allows companies to do what's right and what is wonderful about the internet and tech innovation, while at the same time saying, 'You can't take advantage of our kids,'" Maryland state Delegate Jared Solomon, one of the bill's sponsors, said in a press conference Wednesday.
< This article continues on their website >
Posted by from MMO Champion
Join the Welcome Back Weekend May 9-13
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
Cataclysm Classic™ is nearly here, and you and your allies can prepare to embark on a new adventure. This weekend, we're giving all players with inactive World of Warcraft® accounts full access to the World of Warcraft Classic progression realms* and the characters on those realms without a subscription or Game Time.
Gather your friends and get started on a new journey through the
Cataclysm Classic pre-expansion patch and a changed Azeroth, risen from the fires of destruction. Play as a
goblin or worgen, customize your appearance with transmogrification, and revel in new quality of life changes to enhance your time—including faster leveling in Outlands and Northrend, better Dungeon Finder, improved Collections UI, and more!
Rejoin your guild, rally your comrades, and prepare to face new challenges. Cataclysm Classic launches on May 20, 2024, at 3 p.m. PDT worldwide.
Need Help Logging Back In?
Download the
Battle.net® desktop app Launch the app and log in to your account.
Need to recover your account information?
Within the app, click on the World of Warcraft tab, then either Install or Update.
Latest system requirements When the installation or update is complete, click Play.
Play free through May 13, 2024, at 10:00 am PDT!
< This article continues on their website >
Posted by from MMO Champion
The WoW Classic Shop is Now Open
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
The WoW Classic shop has opened its doors with a variety of items for your Wrath of the Lich King Classic and Cataclysm Classic collections
*.
Here’s what’s currently in the shop inventory:
Auspicious Arborwyrm mount
Kalu'ak Whalebone Glider mount
Re-Awakened Phase-Hunter mount
Pebble the Penguin (Pebble's Pebble) pet
Dark Portal Hearthstone Effect
Fishspeaker's Lucky Lure toy
Path of Illidan toy
Visit the
Battle.net Shop or the in-game shop to purchase.
*WoW Classic Shop items only available in WoW Classic progression realms.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the closer-look department: The world is on the verge of a climate abyss, the UN has warned, in response to a Guardian survey that found that hundreds of the world's foremost climate experts expect global heating to soar past the international target of 1.5C. From a report: A series of leading climate figures have reacted to the findings, saying the deep despair voiced by the scientists must be a renewed wake-up call for urgent and radical action to stop burning fossil fuels and save millions of lives and livelihoods. Some said the 1.5C target was hanging by a thread, but it was not yet inevitable that it would be passed, if an extraordinary change in the pace of climate action could be achieved. The Guardian got the views of almost 400 senior authors of reports by the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Almost 80% expected a rise of at least 2.5C above preindustrial levels, a catastrophic level of heating, while only 6% thought it would stay within the 1.5C limit. Many expressed their personal anguish at the lack of climate action.
"The goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C is hanging by a thread," said the official spokesperson for Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general. "The battle to keep 1.5C alive will be won or lost in the 2020s -- under the watch of political and industry leaders today. They need to realise we are on the verge of the abyss. The science is clear and so are the world's scientists: the stakes for all humanity could not be higher." Alok Sharma, the president of the Cop26 climate summit in 2021, said: "The results of the Guardian's survey should be another wake-up call for governments to stop prevaricating and inject much more urgency into delivering on the climate commitments they have already made." He said world leaders needed to get on and deliver on the pledge they made to transition away from fossil fuels at Cop28 in December.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the troubling-updates department: The largest ever recorded leap in the amount of carbon dioxide laden in the world's atmosphere has just occurred, according to researchers who monitor the relentless accumulation of the primary gas that is heating the planet. From a report: The global average concentration of carbon dioxide in March this year was 4.7 parts per million (or ppm) higher than it it was in March last year, which is a record-breaking increase in CO2 levels over a 12-month period. The increase has been spurred, scientists say, by the periodic El Nino climate event, which has now waned, as well as the ongoing and increasing amounts of greenhouse gases expelled into the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
"It's really significant to see the pace of the increase over the first four months of this year, which is also a record," said Ralph Keeling, director of the CO2 Program at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. "We aren't just breaking records in CO2 concentrations, but also the record in how fast it is rising." The global CO2 readings have been taken from a station perched upon the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii since the measurements began in 1958 under Keeling's father, Charles. The concentrations of CO2 have increased each year since, as the heat-trapping gas continues to progressively accumulate due to rampant emissions from power plants, cars, trucks and other sources, with last year hitting a new global record in annual emissions.
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