Witnesses report a plume of smoke near the location of the explosion on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The ousted national security adviser and Trump had significant disagreements on Iran and Afghanistan, among other issues

A coalition of archivists, activists, and libraries are working overtime to make it easier to identify the many books that are secretly in the public domain, digitize them, and make them freely available online to everyone. The people behind the effort are now hoping to upload these books to the Internet Archive, one of the largest digital archives on the internet. From a report: As it currently stands, all books published in the U.S. before 1924 are in the public domain, meaning they're publicly owned and can be freely used and copied. Books published in 1964 and after are still in copyright, and by law will be for 95 years from their publication date. But a copyright loophole means that up to 75 percent of books published between 1923 to 1964 are secretly in the public domain, meaning they are free to read and copy. The problem is determining which books these are, due to archaic copyright registration systems and convoluted and shifting copyright law. As such, a coalition of libraries, volunteers, and archivists have been working overtime to identify which titles are in the public domain, digitize them, then upload them to the internet. At the heart of the effort has been the New York Public Library, which recently documented why the entire process is important, but a bit of a pain.

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Julie Stultz, Technical Marketing Manager at ON Semiconductor, writes for ElectronicDesign: 1. USB Type-C and PD are complicated: With a universal connector that can plug into a power host (source) or device (sink), it seems like the negotiation of which device is powering which can be overwhelming for product designers and consumers. However, products can have more -- or less -- complexity based on the product designer's needs. For Type-C only devices, a single IC can be used to control all of the connection handshakes. For more complex features, the Power Delivery protocol (PD) can be implemented. There's a strict set of guidelines that must be followed to be USB-C PD compliant. Products receive approval from the USB-IF governing committee before they're certified. Utilizing firmware from certified IC vendors can simplify design the solution. 2. USB Type-C and PD is expensive: To detect, attach, and negotiate communication, it would seem that the transition from USB 2.0 to USB-C would become expensive. For basic USB-C functionality, a basic state-machine controller can be used. Controllers are available on the market for 3. All Type-C ports have identical functionality: Despite a common connector, the actual feature set of a USB-C port can vary significantly. Ports on travel adapters only charge devices. Ports on wearable devices typically only receive charge. Ports on dual-role devices such as laptops can still see variation in port features. Power levels for standard Type-C ports are limited to 15 W while ports that implement PD can negotiate power up to 100 W. In addition, some ports are capable of data communication up to USB SS Gen 2 speeds of 10 Gb/s. Other features may include DisplayPort or Thunderbolt support. The article debunks eight more myths.

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The group, Islamic Movement of Nigeria, was banned for being 'terrorists' in July after a series of deadly clashes.

Uber has laid off 435 employees across its product and engineering teams, the company announced today. Combined, the layoffs represent about 8% of the organizations, with 170 people leaving the product team and 265 people leaving the engineering team. From a report: The layoffs had no effect on Eats, which is one of Uber's top-performing products, and Freight, according to a source familiar with the situation. Meanwhile, the company is lifting the hiring freeze on the product and engineering teams that has been in effect since early August, according to the source. "Our hope with these changes is to reset and improve how we work day to day -- ruthlessly prioritizing, and always holding ourselves accountable to a high bar of performance and agility," an Uber spokesperson told TechCrunch. "While certainly painful in the moment, especially for those directly affected, we believe that this will result in a much stronger technical organization, which going forward will continue to hire some of the very best talent around the world." Great timing to dump this announcement.

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Apple today unveiled the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max, its new smartphone lineup. While the 11 is the cheaper alternative following the iPhone XR -- there are a few design changes, like a "surgical-grade stainless steel" case and matte finish, but the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max are more focused on cramming in as much power as possible. About the iPhone 11: Like last year's model, the iPhone 11 includes a 6.1-inch display, and the design is almost identical to last year, too, with the notch at the front for the Face ID camera. Apple is adding new color options, with purple, white, green, yellow, black, and red all available. Apple's biggest design changes are in the camera at the rear of the device. Last year's iPhone XR had a single 12-megapixel wide-angle camera, but the iPhone 11 now includes a dual-camera system with an additional 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera that supports 2x optical zoom. There's even a new immersive camera interface that lets you see outside the frame, so you can see the details of the photos youâ(TM)re taking with the ultra-wide camera. [...] Inside the iPhone 11 is Apple's latest A13 Bionic processor, and naturally it's the "fastest CPU in a smartphone" and also the "fastest GPU in a smartphone." Apple demonstrated the performance on stage with a game called Pascal's Wager, which is launching on the App Store next month with some pretty impressive looking mobile graphics. Other than the gaming demo, Apple didn't reveal any additional performance improvements with the A13. It starts at $699. The 5.8-inch iPhone 11 Pro and 6.5-inch iPhone 11 Pro Max: Despite the number change, the two phones look pretty similar to last year's iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, but with one major change: a third rear camera. Apple's also upgraded the display to a new OLED panel, which goes up to an even brighter 1,200 nits, a 2 million to 1 contrast ratio, and is 15 percent more energy efficient. Apple calls it a Super Retina XDR display (similar branding to the Pro Display XDR that the company announced earlier this year). Apple also claims that the glass here is the "toughest glass in a smartphone." Just like the standard iPhone 11, the new iPhone 11 Pro models will feature Apple's A13 Bionic chip which Apple says has both the fastest CPU and GPU ever in a smartphone. Apple also touted improved machine learning performance ("the best machine learning platform in a smartphone," it says). Apple says that with all the improvements to efficiency, the 5.8-inch iPhone 11 Pro should get up to four hours better battery life than last year's XS, and the larger iPhone 11 Pro Max will get up to five hours better battery than the XS Max. The new camera system is one of the standout upgrades (quite literally, as it dominates the back of the phone in a gigantic square camera module). The new lens is a 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens with a 120-degree field of view, joining the wide-angle and telephoto cameras Apple has offered in the past. The telephoto camera also is getting an upgrade with a larger Æ'/2.0 aperture, which Apple says will capture up to 40 percent more light compared to the XS camera. And like the iPhone 11, the front-facing camera is now a 12 megapixel sensor, and can shoot both 4K and slow-motion videos. The iPhone 11 Pro will start at $999, and the iPhone 11 Pro Max will start at $1199.

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The British Prime Minister is caught in a tight corner after the opposition voted against a no-deal Brexit.

Sahar Khodayari, arrested for trying to enter a football stadium, set herself on fire last week outside a courthouse.

Sahar Khodayari, arrested for trying to enter a football stadium, set herself on fire last week outside a courthouse.

Sahar Khodayari, arrested for trying to enter a football stadium, set herself on fire last week outside a courthouse.

Sahar Khodayari, arrested for trying to enter a football stadium, set herself on fire last week outside a courthouse.

Sahar Khodayari, arrested for trying to enter a football stadium, set herself on fire last week outside a courthouse.

Sahar Khodayari, arrested for trying to enter a football stadium, set herself on fire last week outside a courthouse.

The organizers of the Storm Area 51 festival called "AlienStock" have canceled the event in the Nevada desert, citing a "possible humanitarian disaster" associated with having people show up unprepared in an area with few amenities and little water. From a report: "Due to the lack of infrastructure, poor planning, risk management, and blatant disregard for the safety of the expected 10,000+ AlienStock attendees, we decided to pull the plug on the festival," a message on AlienStock's website reads. AlienStock was set up by the Facebook meme page "Storm Area 51," and was planned for the weekend of September 20 near Rachel, Nevada. The local town has been actively warning people on its website not to come, noting that many local residents are armed and would be willing to defend their property.

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