Stunning Trailer for Apollo 11 Brings Us Never-Before-Seen Footage of the Moon Mission


Last year, the filmmakers behind Apollo 11 were discussing making a documentary to mark the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, when an archivist informed them that extensive, unseen 70mm footage of the mission existed at the National Archives. The footage became the basis for the documentary Apollo 11 and now we’re getting our first look at it with a new trailer.

In December, the Apollo 11 filmmakers told Vanity Fair that Dan Rooney, an archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration, knew the footage was boxed up in a vault somewhere but he had no idea what kind of treasure he was sitting on. As NASA was preparing the Apollo 11 launch, it made a deal with MGM Studios to film the mission preparations and their aftermath. MGM set up a crew to film it all using the same epic Todd-AO 70mm treatment it gave to blockbusters like The Sound of Music. Six weeks before launch, MGM lost interest but NASA wanted to go through with it anyway and managed to get the crew filming. Some of the footage was used in a short documentary, but most of it was locked away. Now it’s coming to the big screen along with audio culled from 11,000 hours worth of uncatalogued recordings.

Buzz Aldrin himself is one of a dozen credited cinematographers on the new documentary, and based on early reviews coming from Sundance last week, it appears that the level of intimacy the crew captured is the film’s biggest strength. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that “much of the footage in Apollo 11 is, by virtue of both access and proper preservation, utterly breathtaking,” and found that the filmmakers were freed up to make something experiential because the story of the mission is already so well known. Indiewire gushed that “the clarity takes your breath away, and it does so in the blink of an eye; your body will react to it before your brain has time to process why, after a lifetime of casual interest, you’re suddenly overcome by the sheer enormity of what it meant to leave the Earth and land somewhere else.”

Just looking at the trailer, we can say it’s wild to see footage from this era that doesn’t look like it was shot through a yellowy vintage Instagram filter. It looks like it could’ve been shot yesterday.

There’s no theatrical release date yet, but the big 50th anniversary of the moon landing is coming up in July so we’d guess it will be out around that time. Until then, check out the trailer above and a spiffy new poster below.

[YouTube]


via Gizmodo
Stunning Trailer for Apollo 11 Brings Us Never-Before-Seen Footage of the Moon Mission

See Inside the Newly Renovated King Tut’s Tomb


The restored north wall of the burial chamber.
Image: Carleton Immersive Media Studio; Carleton University © J. Paul Getty Trust

Years of steadily accumulating dust and grime had taken a toll on King Tut’s tomb, but a recently completed restoration project has revitalized the historic chamber, while making much-needed infrastructure improvements to prevent ongoing decay.

It’s been nearly a century since British archaeologist Howard Carter first peered into the Tomb of Tutankhamun. Since then, the site has attracted millions of visitors, which, while great for the Egyptian economy, has not been so great for the chamber itself. Its majestic wall paintings became dim, drab, scuffed, and scratched from all the moisture and kicked-up dust from the ceaseless train of shuffling tourists.

A restored section of the South Wall in King Tut’s tomb. The damage at left was caused by Howard Carter during the tomb’s clearance.
Image: Carleton Immersive Media Studio; Carleton University © J. Paul Getty Trust

Determined to not let this World Heritage site go to waste, the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), in cooperation with Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities, embarked on a 10-year project to restore the tomb and introduce much-needed infrastructure improvements. The project, which began in 2009, was completed in the fall of 2018, as reported in a GCI press release.

The 3,350-year-old tomb is located in the Valley of Kings near the Egyptian city of Luxor. Rock-cut steps lead down some 40 feet to four chambers, of which only Tut’s burial chamber is adorned with painted walls. Most of the chamber’s relics were removed after its discovery in 1922, but some artifacts remain, including the quartzite sarcophagus and its granite lid, the gilded wooden coffin exterior, and the man himself, whose mummy is on display in an oxygen-free case.

East wall of the tomb’s burial chamber before restoration.
Image: Carleton Immersive Media Studio; Carleton University © J. Paul Getty Trust
East wall of the tomb’s burial chamber after restoration.
Image: Carleton Immersive Media Studio; Carleton University © J. Paul Getty Trust

Intense interest in the tomb has caused problems, however. Dust delivered to the tomb by tourists cast a gray veil over the walls. Concerns emerged that increased levels of carbon dioxide and humidity were stimulating microbial growth, including some worrisome brown splotches on the paintings. Some areas of the chamber exhibited scratch and scuff marks caused by tourists and film crews. The microclimate inside the chamber was also unpleasant for the visiting tourists. The tomb was cramped and crowded, poorly lit, and devoid of helpful signage.

The recently completed restoration project addressed all these issues, while also offering a multi-year plan for the ongoing conservation and management of the site. An added benefit of the project was that it resulted in the most “thorough study of the tomb’s condition since Carter’s time,” according to the GCI. The interdisciplinary restoration team was tasked with learning more about the materials used to paint the walls, the microclimate within the chamber, and the apparent microbial growth on the walls. At the same time, the team had to devise strategies for repairing and restoring the artwork and propose infrastructure upgrades to maintain the interior and improve visitor experience.

New visitor platform in King Tut’s tomb.
Image: © J. Paul Getty Trust

“As in all of our collaborative projects, the GCI has taken the long view, with the intent to provide sustainable conservation and site management outcomes,” Neville Agnew, senior principal project specialist at GCI, said in a statement. “This involves systematic planning, documentation, scientific investigation, personnel training and a sensitive approach to treatment.”

Wall paintings conservation work being conducted in the burial chamber of the tomb in spring 2016.
Image: © J. Paul Getty Trust

Careful analysis of the wall paintings showed they were in relatively decent condition, but with some flaking and paint loss. This was on account of the damage inflicted by tourists, but also the result of the materials used by the ancient Egyptians, according to GCI. Conservationists carefully removed dust from the paintings, while also removing protective layers applied during previous treatments.

As for the brown patches, they turned out to be a false alarm. An analysis of photos taken of the chamber after its discovery showed the brown splotches were already there. What’s more, a DNA and chemical analysis confirmed the patches as belonging to an expired fungus that no longer threatens the walls. Unfortunately, the fungus penetrated into the paint itself, and it’s not possible to remove these blemishes without damaging the paintings even further.

Wall painting in Tut’s tomb after restoration.
Image: © J. Paul Getty Trust

Mercifully, barriers now restrict access to the wall paintings. The team also added new walkways, a viewing platform, new signs and lights, and an air filtration system to control humidity, carbon dioxide, and dust.

A cool aspect of this project is that, during the 10 years it took to complete, the tomb remained open to visitors. During that time, the tomb was also made available to scientists, including a team from the Polytechnic University of Turin who in 2018 concluded that no secret chamber exists behind Tut’s tomb.

[Getty Conservation Institute via History Blog]


via Gizmodo
See Inside the Newly Renovated King Tut’s Tomb

A Show-and-Tell Video of Kevin Costner’s Bad-Ass Custom Toyota Tundra

What’s more interesting: To hear the statistics about a particular object, or to hear about how that object fits into someone’s life? For engineers it’s probably the former, for designers, the latter.

Kevin Costner is perhaps more design-minded. He’s got a pretty bad-ass customized Toyota Tundra that he uses on his ranch, and when Toyota caught wind of it, they smelled an opportunity for a promotional video. "Toyota asked me if I’d be willing to talk about [the truck]," Costner says. "And I wasn’t as inclined to talk about it, as more maybe to show how it works in my life." So that’s what he did with this show-and-tell video:

Yes, I know, some of you gearhead nerds want to read about his WARN winches, Fox coilovers, Nitto Ridge Grappler tires et cetera. Toyota Cruisers & Trucks has an article will all of the build details here.


via Core77
A Show-and-Tell Video of Kevin Costner’s Bad-Ass Custom Toyota Tundra

Laravel Mailbox



News
/
updated: January 24, 2019

Laravel Mailbox

Laravel Mailbox is a package by Marcel Pociot for handling incoming emails in your Laravel application. Mailbox features a fluent API that allows you to define custom mailboxes to catch incoming emails.

Here’s a quick example of an inbound email handler from the documentation:

Mailbox::from('{username}@gmail.com', function (InboundEmail $email, $username) {
    // Access email attributes and content
    $subject = $email->subject();

    $email->reply(new ReplyMailable);
});

Laravel Mailbox works by listening for incoming emails from the supported drivers (options include “mailgun,” “sendgrid,” and “log”) and then responding to them through custom mailbox classes. At a basic level, here’s an example of how you can define a mailbox in a service provider:

use BeyondCode\Mailbox\Facades\Mailbox;

class AppServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
    /**
     * Bootstrap any application services.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function boot()
    {
        Mailbox::from('sender@domain.com', function (InboundEmail $email) {
            // Handle the incoming email
        });
    }
}

The above example uses a closure, but the second argument can also be an invocable class:

Mailbox::from('sender@domain.com', MyMailbox::class);

By default, this package stores all inbound emails in the database, with a configurable duration to keep them. You can use Laravel’s scheduler with the package’s ‘mailbox:clean’ command, which will remove emails from the database older than the configurable duration to keep them. Check the storing emails documentation for further details.

Out of the box, Mailbox supports Mailgun, Sendgrid, and a local development driver/log. However, you can easily extend/add custom drivers—Laravel Mailbox uses the same manager pattern that is familiar to Laravel users (i.e., database drivers).

To learn more about Laravel Mailbox, you can check out the source code on GitHub at beyondcode/laravel-mailbox. To learn how to install and use the package, check out the Laravel Mailbox documentation.


via Laravel News
Laravel Mailbox

The Linux Commands Reference Cheat Sheet

most-used-linux-terminal-cmds

The Linux command line, also known as the terminal, can be an intimidating place. But it can also be your most effective tool.

Text commands often work regardless of which Linux-based operating system you use, and the results are often faster than what a graphical desktop interface can offer.

Yet even for long-time users, there are too many commands to commit to memory. That’s why we’ve prepared this handy cheat sheet of Linux commands.

The Linux Command Line Cheat Sheet

Terminal
clear Clear the terminal screen.
history Display recently used commands. You can also view these commands via the Up and Down keys.
! Repeat a recently used command. You can use !n to repeat the n-th command in history or !-n to repeat what happened n commands ago.
man Display the manual for a terminal program.
whatis Display a brief description of a terminal program. A simpler alternative to the man command.
alias Create a shortcut to a command or, when combined with the cd command, directory.
exit Exit or close the terminal.
Navigation & File Management
cd Change directory. Used to navigate between folders.
pwd Display current directory.
cd Change current directory.
ls Display a list of files in the current directory.
cp Makes a copy of a file. Defaults to the current directory unless you specify a specific one.
mv Move a file from one directory to another.
rm Remove a file or set of files.
stat Display when a file was last accessed, modified, or changed.
touch Change the date accessed or date modified time of a given file to right now.
rmdir Delete a file or files.
mkdir Create a directory. Defaults to the current directory, but you can also specify one.
rmdir Delete a directory. Defaults to the current directory, but you can also specify one. The target directory must be completely empty.
rename Change the name of a file or set of files.
find Search a specific directory (or your entire PC) to find files that match designated criteria.
locate Search for files or directories. Faster than the find command, but has fewer options.
grep Search a specific file or set of files to see if a string of text exists and where.
mount Attach a separate filesystem (such as an external hard drive or USB stick) to your system’s main filesystem.
umount Detach a separate filesystem from your system’s main filesystem.
cat Display the contents of a text file. Also works with multiple files.
chmod Modify the read, write, and execute permissions of a file.
chown Change the user or group that owns a file.
Users
su Switch user. Unless you desigate a specific user, this command will attempt to sign in as the root user (which you can think of as the system administrator).
whoami Displays the current user name.
id Display current user and group.
passwd Create or update a user’s password.
System Administration
uname Displays core system information such as kernel version, hardware, and operating system.
sudo Enter before a command to perform the command as a system administrator. User must have administrator priveleges for this to work.
apt/dnf/pacman Programs for installing software and updates. Which one to use depends on your Linux-based operating system. Each requires administrator rights and additional instructions, such as sudo apt install program-name .
jobs Display the status of all current jobs. A job is a representation of a running process or group of processes.
bg Send a job to the background.
fg Send a job to the foreground.
kill End a process according to its process ID (which you can get using the ps command.
killall End all processes whose names match your query.
ps Display a list of running processes. Defaults to processes started by the current user.
top Displays a list of running processes, sorted by how much CPU each uses. Unlike ps, the command updates in real-time.
uptime Displays time since last boot.
whereis Finds the executable file for a program.
df Displays how much disk space is used and free on your system.
free Displays how much RAM is used and free on your system.
Network Management
ip Displays you IP address, network interfaces, bandwidth usage, and more.
ping Send or receive data from another computer on a network. Often used to test whether a network connection is established and the speed of that connection.
dig Look up a domain’s DNS address
wget Download a file.
ssh Secure Shell. Connect and login to a remote network location.
Miscellaneous
echo Display a line of text. Often used in programs and scripts to relay information to users.
factor Displays possible factors of a decimal number.
expr Solve math equations.
look Look up a word in the dictionary.

More Linux Terminal Commands

As comprehensive as this Linux commands cheat sheet may be, the list is only scratching the surface. There is far more you can do in the terminal than we could ever hope to fit on one page. Plus many commands change depending on your Linux-based operating system or require installing additional programs. The commands above are likely to work out-of-the-box on most Linux machines.

All the items in this cheat sheet are useful, but there are other Linux commands that are just plain fun. Then, on the flip side, there are commands that no one should ever run.

Read the full article: The Linux Commands Reference Cheat Sheet

via MakeUseOf.com
The Linux Commands Reference Cheat Sheet

MySQL Workbench 8.0.14 has been released

Dear MySQL users, 

The MySQL developer tools team announces 8.0.14 as our general available (GA) for MySQL Workbench 8.0.

For the full list of changes in this revision, visit http://dev.mysql.com/doc/relnotes/workbench/en/changes-8-0.html

For discussion, join the MySQL Workbench Forums: http://forums.mysql.com/index.php?152

The release is now available in source and binary form for a number of platforms from our download pages at: http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/tools/workbench/

Enjoy!

via Planet MySQL
MySQL Workbench 8.0.14 has been released

The Latest Shazam TV Spot is Chock Full of New Footage


Shazam is definitely, really, absolutely an adult. Legally. Yes.
Image: Warner Bros.

This kid is about to become a super man.

In the latest TV spot for Shazam, young Billy Batson is doing the things any kid would do if he was granted super powers that transformed him into a magically gifted adult man. He’s flying! He’s transforming! He’s trying to buy a super lair! And he’s buying beer. Or trying to, anyways. I doubt Shazam’s costume comes with an ID.

It looks like an incredibly fun time, an offbeat sort of childish humor in tension both with grimdark superheroism and the snarkfest of the MCU. I’m sold. This is charming. Kid heroes are the best.


For more, make sure you’re following us on our new Instagram @io9dotcom.


via Gizmodo
The Latest Shazam TV Spot is Chock Full of New Footage

Five Hidden Features of the Laravel Excel Package



News
/
updated: January 18, 2019

Five Hidden Features of the Laravel Excel Package

The Laravel Excel package recently celebrated a new milestone of version 3, with new features that help ease advanced use-cases, and is simple to use. Let’s explore some of these hidden features you might not know about, that make Laravel Excel a go-to package for working with Excel.

1. Exporting from HTML/Blade

Let’s imagine you already have a list page with HTML table:

And here’s the Blade code – resources/views/customers/table.blade.php:

<table class="table">
    <thead>
    <tr>
        <th></th>
        <th>First name</th>
        <th>Last name</th>
        <th>Email</th>
        <th>Created at</th>
        <th>Updated at</th>
    </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    @foreach ($customers as $customer)
    <tr>
        <td></td>
        <td></td>
        <td></td>
        <td></td>
        <td></td>
        <td></td>
    </tr>
    @endforeach
    </tbody>
</table>

You can re-use it to export the same table into Excel.

Step 1. Generate Export class

php artisan make:export CustomersFromView --model=Customer

Step 2. Use FromView to perform the operation.

namespace App\Exports;

use App\Customer;
use Illuminate\Contracts\View\View;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\FromView;

class CustomersExportView implements FromView
{
    public function view(): View
    {
        return view('customers.table', [
            'customers' => Customer::orderBy('id', 'desc')->take(100)->get()
        ]);
    }
}

Here’s the result Excel file:

Notice: you can export only HTML table, without any layout tags like html, body, div, etc.


2. Export to PDF, HTML, and others

Although the package is called Laravel Excel, it provides export to more formats. It’s straightforward to use, add one more parameter to the class:

return Excel::download(new CustomersExport(), 'customers.xlsx', 'Html');

Yes, you got it right. HTML. Here’s how it looks:

Not much styling, I know. And here’s the source:

Not only that, it allows to export to PDF, and you can even choose from three libraries for it. Again, all you need to do is specify the format as the last parameter – here’s screenshot from their docs:

Notice: you will also have to install a chosen PDF package via composer, like:

composer require dompdf/dompdf

Here’s how PDF looks like:


3. Format Cells However You Want

Laravel Excel package has a powerful “parent” – PhpSpreadsheet. So it adopts all the underneath functionality, including cell formatting in various ways.

Here’s how to use it in Laravel Export class, like app/Exports/CustomersExportStyling.php:

Step 1. Use appropriate classes in the header.

use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\WithEvents;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Events\AfterSheet;

Step 2. Use WithEvents in implements section.

class CustomersExportStyling implements FromCollection, WithEvents 
{ 
    // ...

Step 3. Create registerEvents() method with AfterSheet event.

/**
 * @return array
 */
public function registerEvents(): array
{
    return [
        AfterSheet::class    => function(AfterSheet $event) {
            // ... HERE YOU CAN DO ANY FORMATTING
        },
    ];
}

Here’s an example:

/**
 * @return array
 */
public function registerEvents(): array
{
    return [
        AfterSheet::class    => function(AfterSheet $event) {
            // All headers - set font size to 14
            $cellRange = 'A1:W1'; 
            $event->sheet->getDelegate()->getStyle($cellRange)->getFont()->setSize(14);

            // Apply array of styles to B2:G8 cell range
            $styleArray = [
                'borders' => [
                    'outline' => [
                        'borderStyle' => \PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Style\Border::BORDER_THICK,
                        'color' => ['argb' => 'FFFF0000'],
                    ]
                ]
            ];
            $event->sheet->getDelegate()->getStyle('B2:G8')->applyFromArray($styleArray);

            // Set first row to height 20
            $event->sheet->getDelegate()->getRowDimension(1)->setRowHeight(20);

            // Set A1:D4 range to wrap text in cells
            $event->sheet->getDelegate()->getStyle('A1:D4')
                ->getAlignment()->setWrapText(true);
        },
    ];
}

The result of these “random” demo-styling examples looks like this:

All these examples, and many more, you can find in Recipes page of PhpSpreadsheet docs.


4. Hidden Fields From Model

Let’s imagine we’ve seeded a default Laravel 5.7 users table:

Let’s try to export this one with a simple class FromCollection:

class UsersExport implements FromCollection
{
    public function collection()
    {
        return User::all();
    }
}

In the result Excel, you will see some fields missing: password and remember_token:

This is because of this app/User.php property:

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    // ...

    /**
     * The attributes that should be hidden for arrays.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $hidden = [
        'password', 'remember_token',
    ];
}

So, these fields are hidden by default, but it shows us Laravel Excel package behavior – if you want to protect some fields from export, you can do it directly in the model.


5. Formulas

For some reason, official Laravel Excel package documentation doesn’t mention anything about formulas. But that’s the whole point of using Excel!

Luckily, it’s straightforward to write formulas into our exported file. We need to set cell values like we would to in Excel, for example, =A2+1 or SUM(A1:A10).

One of the ways to do it is to use WithMapping:

use App\Customer;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\FromCollection;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\WithMapping;

class CustomersExportFormulas implements FromCollection, WithMapping
{
    public function collection()
    {
        return Customer::all();
    }

    /**
     * @var Customer $customer
     * @return array
     */
    public function map($customer): array
    {
        return [
            $customer->id,
            '=A2+1',
            $customer->first_name,
            $customer->last_name,
            $customer->email,
        ];
    }
}

So, these are just five less-known features of Laravel Excel. If you want to find out more, I have a unique online course called Excel Export/Import in Laravel, go check it out!


via Laravel News
Five Hidden Features of the Laravel Excel Package

NSA Puts Phone Charging Station at Hacker Conference in Plot to Go Viral


We’ve all had that moment. You smartphone battery is running low, and you’re desperate for some juice. But just how desperate have you gotten? Desperate enough to plug your phone into an NSA charging station? Because some people are seriously facing that choice right now.

Shmoocon, a hacker conference that started today and runs through the weekend, includes a cutesy display with this exact dilemma. The text on the NSA’s display even says, “You know you want to try it!”

NSA official Rob Joyce tweeted out a photo of the display (above), and the spy agency says that it’s in on the joke.

“It’s tongue-in-cheek,” NSA media relations officer Chris Augustine told Gizmodo over the phone. “It was created for this event so that it would allow for… exactly what you’re seeing on Twitter.”

And what you’re seeing on Twitter is a tweet that’s starting to go viral with comments like, “what could go wrong?” and “totally not a trap.”

“We’re trying be edgy,” Augustine continues with a laugh.

But if you’re heading to a hacker conference, you’re probably going to want to lock your shit down. And that includes not charging your devices with mystery cords. Even if NSA says it’s just a joke.

“We go to a lot of conferences like these,” Augustine continued. “Some of our talent comes from conferences like these. I don’t if we’re presenting at this conference, but I do know we are recruiting.”


via Gizmodo
NSA Puts Phone Charging Station at Hacker Conference in Plot to Go Viral