Google has rolled out its latest Pixel feature drop, giving Pixel 6 and newer users home screen widgets for quick calls or texts to VIP contacts, plus new scam detection warnings built into the Gboard keyboard for chat apps. The update also brings Harry Potter-themed customization packs and two free months of Audible, tied to the release of a new full-cast audiobook series, alongside gesture improvements for the Pixel Watch line.
A researcher has proposed the 'natural kiln hypothesis,' suggesting that early humans discovered fire-hardened clay through exposure to intense wildfires rather than through deliberate experimentation with hearths. Observing clay baked solid by these natural blazes may have shown ancient people that heat could transform soft earth into a durable, useful material, eventually leading to intentional pottery-making.
Microsoft's Bing Wallpaper app, which normally rotates nature and landscape photos, recently displayed a promotional image for a Harry Potter/Fantastic Beasts 11-film collection instead. Users on Reddit, Thurrott.com and Microsoft Learn forums expressed surprise and frustration, with some mistaking the ad for adware and others objecting due to JK Rowling's political controversies.
A long-time Bing Wallpaper user reported that the desktop app displayed a full-screen advertisement for a Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts box set instead of the usual daily wallpaper image. The user said this was the first time they had encountered such an ad after years of regular use, and initially suspected their system had been infected with adware.
Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, led by Yoav Vaknin, developed a method to authenticate ancient pottery by analyzing two magnetic signals locked into fired clay: thermal remanent magnetization from firing and a weaker viscous remanent magnetization acquired over centuries. Because Earth's magnetic pole shifts position over time, comparing these signals can reveal whether a ceramic object is genuinely ancient or a modern forgery. The findings were published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
GoKawiil