No-fuss, oven-ready meal kits. The best prepared meal delivery services to use for 2020: Home Chef, Freshly, Home Bistro, Gobble and more – CNET
Source: CNet

Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:

Tia Health, the developer of a network of digital wellness apps, clinics, and telehealth services focused on women’s health, raises $24M Series A  —  Tia Health, the developer of a network of digital wellness apps, clinics and telehealth services designed to treat women’s health holistically …

Explore your options for high-quality beef, pork, chicken and seafood all delivered to your door. The best meat delivery services in 2020: Omaha Steaks, Porter Road, Crowd Cow and more – CNET
Source: CNet

For fans of MMA, UFC 250 is a surprisingly stacked card. UFC 250: Nunes vs Spencer — Start time, full fight card, how to watch or stream online – CNET
Source: CNet

If you’ve been on the RTL-SDR forums lately you may have seen that a lot of work has been going into the DragonOS software. This is a software-defined radio group that has seen a lot of effort put into a purpose-built Debian-based Linux distribution that can do a lot of SDR out of the box. The latest and most exciting project coming from them involves a method for using the software to receive and demodulate analog video.

[Aaron]’s video (linked below) demonstrates using a particular piece of software called SigDigger to analyze an incoming analog video stream from a drone using a HackRF. (Of course any incoming analog signal could be used, it doesn’t need to be a drone.) The software shows the various active frequency ranges, allows a user to narrow in on one and then start demodulating it. While it has to be dialed in just right to get anything that doesn’t look like snow, [Aaron] is able to get recognizable results in just a few minutes.

Getting something like this to work completely in software is an impressive feat, especially considering that all of the software used here is free. Granted, this wouldn’t be as easy for a digital signal like most TV stations broadcast, but there’s still a lot of fun to be had. In case you missed the release of DragonOS, we covered it a few weeks ago and it’s only gotten better since then, with this project just as one example.

Receive Analog Video Radio Signals from Scratch
Source: HackADay

Ben Thompson / Stratechery:

Facebook Shops integration with Shopify is good for Shopify merchants, but using Facebook Checkout limits the upside of Shopify’s own payments offering  —  In the month since I wrote The Anti-Amazon Alliance, there has been two significant announcements from two of the principals in that alliance:

Commentary: Nintendo’s smash hit is good at making you feel relaxed — and great at keeping you hooked. The fun never stops in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It's a problem – CNET
Source: CNet

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:

A look at recent statements by tech companies, including Amazon, T-Mobile, Microsoft, and others, regarding racism in America  —  Comments Share 70 Tweet Share Reddit Email  —  Seattle tech giants Amazon and Microsoft issued statements this weekend in response to the outrage and protests …

Sony’s PlayStation division will unveil games for its new console coming this fall. PlayStation 5 games reveal event June 4: How to watch, start time and what to expect – CNET
Source: CNet

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Tim Cook, in a memo to staff addressing racism in US, says Apple will give to non-profits like Equal Justice Initiative, match staff donations 2-to-1 in June  —  – Tim Cook writes letter to employees after George Floyd killing  — Apple donating to equal justice, human rights groups, CEO says

Hand-picked by CNET editors, these are the best phones available from Verizon. Best Verizon phone for 2020 – CNET
Source: CNet

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We begin with sad news indeed as we mark the passing of Marcel van Kervinck on Monday. The name might not ring a bell, but his project, the Gigatron TTL computer, certainly will. We did a deep dive on the microprocessor-less computer a while back, and Marcel was a regular at conferences and on the Gigatron forums, supporting users and extending what the computer can do. He was pretty candid about his health issues, and I’ll add that when I approached him a few weeks ago out of the blue about perhaps doing a Hack Chat about Gigatron, he was brutally honest about how little time he had left and that he wouldn’t make it that long. I was blown away by the grace and courage he displayed. His co-conspirator Walter Belger will carry on the Gigatron mission, including joining us for a Hack Chat on June 24. In the meantime, this might be a great time to pick up a Gigatron kit before they’re all sold out and get busy soldering all those delicious through-hole TTL chips.

May of 2020 is the month that never seems to end, and as the world’s focus seems to shift away from the immediate public health aspects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to the long-term economic impact of the response to it, we happened across a very interesting article on just that topic. Mike Robbins from the Circuit Lab has modeled the economic impact of the pandemic using analog circuit simulations. He models people as charges and the flow of people between diseases states as currents; the model has capacitors to store the charge and allow him to measure voltages and filters that model the time delays needed for public policy changes to be adopted. It’s a fascinating mashup of engineering and policy, and shows clearly that the current approach of “If it saves one life” is wrong. You can play with the model online and tweak parameters, but it’s clear that there are alternatives to the current policy that can save lives and return the economy to normal.

One of the things that the above model makes clear is that waiting to fully reopen the economy until a vaccine is ready is a long and dangerous game. But there has at least been some progress on that front, as Massachusetts biotech firm Moderna announced success in Phase 1 clinical trials of its novel mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. It’s important to temper expectations here; Phase 1 trials are only the beginning of human testing, aimed at determining the highest treatment dose that won’t cause serious side effects. Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials are much more involved, so there’s a long way to go before the vaccine, mRNA-1273, is ready for use. If you need to brush up on how these new vaccines work, check out our handy guide to mRNA vaccines.

In happier news, the “moar memory” version of the Raspberry Pi 4 is now on sale. Eben Upton announced that the 8GB version of the Pi 4 is now available for $75. The upgrade was apparently delayed by the lack of an 8GB LPDDR SDRAM chip in a package that would work in the Pi manufacturing process. They’ve also released a beta of a 64-bit version of the Raspberry Pi OS, if you’re interested in a bleeding-edge flex.

And finally, for those who missed the first wave of the computer revolution and never had a blinkenlight machine, you can at least partially scratch that itch with this Internet-connected Altair 8800. Jesse Downing has written a queueing system that allows users to connect to the machine via ssh and use Microsoft BASIC 5.0 on CP/M. Need to see those glorious front panels lights do their thing? Jesse has kindly set up a live stream for that, with an overlay of the current console output. It’s a great way to relive your misspent youth, or to get a taste of what computing was like when soldering skills were a barrier to entry.

Hackaday Links: May 31, 2020
Source: HackADay

The cast from Middle Earth reunited (apart) nearly two decades after the end of the film trilogy. Watch The Lord of the Rings Zoom reunion with Orlando Bloom, Liv Tyler and more – CNET
Source: CNet

Photo by Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images

Amazon, Target, and Apple all made modifications to their business operations over the weekend in light of demonstrations in cities across the US, Bloomberg reported.

Apple kept many of its retail stores closed on Sunday, including some that had just reopened after weeks of being shuttered due to the pandemic. Target closed 32 of its stores in the Minneapolis area and said Sunday it would temporarily close several more across the country.

Amazon told Bloomberg that it had scaled back and adjusted routes “in a handful of cities” to ensure workers’ safety. Drivers in Chicago and Los Angeles received messages Saturday instructing them to stop delivering packages and return home, according to Bloomberg.

Minneapolis has been the site of…

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Apple, Amazon among companies adjusting operations amid demonstrations
Source: New feed

Mark Kleinman / Sky News:

London-based freight forwarding and supply chain finance startup Beacon raises $15M Series A with investors including 8VC and Jeff Bezos  —  The Amazon chief is taking a stake in Beacon, a digital freight-forwarding and supply chain finance firm, Sky News learns.  —  City editor @MarkKleinmanSky

Kim Lyons / The Verge:

YouTube says it will donate $1M to the Center for Policing Equity, a nonprofit think tank that works with police departments to change discriminatory practices  —  The nonprofit works with police departments to address discriminatory behavior  —  YouTube says it will donate $1 million …

Controversial YouTuber Jake Paul was accused of taking advantage of nationwide protests to gain attention — yet again. YouTuber Jake Paul defends being among crowd of looters as critics call him ‘epitome of white male privilege’
Source: Washington Post Tech

Royal Palace Renesse/Instagram

A restaurant in the Netherlands has introduced new robot waiters as a way to reduce human-to-human contact in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The red-and-white robots (which are giving me serious Rosey the robot vibes) will greet customers, serve food and pick up used dishes from diners’ tables at the Royal Palace restaurant in the town of Renesse, according to the Associated Press.

The as-yet-unnamed robots say “hello and welcome,” in and they wear little scarves (to seem less creepy? idk).

“They help us with the work we do,” says Leah Hu, whose family owns the Royal Palace. “We are often busy and cleaning tables and the robots give us an extra hand. We are not disappearing. We are still here. They will always need people in…

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A restaurant in the Netherlands is using creepy robot waiters for social distancing
Source: New feed

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

YouTube says it will donate $1 million to the Center for Policing Equity, to demonstrate “solidarity against racism and violence.” The Alphabet-owned video platform tweeted that it was pledging the funds “in support of efforts to address social injustice.”

The company did not specifically reference the demonstrations in cities across the US over the weekend protesting the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Authorities charged fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s death, after a video showed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck as other officers looked on.

The Center for Policing Equity is a nonprofit research think tank made up of research scientists and race…

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YouTube will donate million to the Center for Policing Equity
Source: New feed

Louise Matsakis / Wired:

Some Walmart staff claim AI-based tech used in stores to prevent shoplifting misidentifies innocuous behavior as theft and often fails to flag actual stealing  —  The retailer denies there is any widespread issue with the software, but a group expressed frustration—and public health concerns.

The original trilogy, the prequels, the sequels, The Mandalorian, The Clone Wars — let’s look at how you can explore every facet of a galaxy far, far away. How to watch every Star Wars movie and TV show, from Darth Vader to Baby Yoda – CNET
Source: CNet

Stores closed out of concern for the safety of employees and customers. Apple closes Apple stores across US amid widespread riots, looting – CNET
Source: CNet

The historic manned launch of NASA astronauts from US soil lifts spirits. And a gravity-defying stuffed dino steals a heart or two. SpaceX launch reactions: 'Humanity needs hope,' George Takei says – CNET
Source: CNet

Stitcher Blog:

Stitcher releases its first podcasting report, with 10 years of data trends; a pandemic update shows a dip in listening at commute times and a lunchtime rise  —  What a decade of industry growth looks like from the app perspective.  —  It’s been over a decade since we launched the Stitcher app.

Things are not particularly calm right now, so most people are looking for anything that can soothe them, even for only a few minutes. For some, this can mean rewatching the movies they loved as a child. For others, it can mean watching ASMR videos on YouTube. Now, thanks to a new series on Disney+, you no longer have…

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Soothe Your Kids and Yourself With Disney's 'Zenimation' Series
Source: Life Hacker