Sea Otter 2024 Gallery: Sneaky shocks, new bikes and wireless alternatives | Canada News Media
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Sea Otter 2024 Gallery: Sneaky shocks, new bikes and wireless alternatives

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With hundreds of tents crammed into the centre of Laguna Seca speedway, all kinds of new things are hiding at Sea Otter. From high-tech new shocks and wireless dropper post options to new solutions to nagging problems with existing products. If you know what you’re looking for, you can find almost anything. Here’s what caught our eye in Monterrey over the weekend.

Cane Creek Tigan air-charged coil shock

Cane Creek has two very different suspension parts showing at Sea Otter. On the one end, its new inverted gravel fork. On the other, the Tigan, an air-charged coil shock. Cane Creek’s aiming to improve on the grip and end-stroke support that draws so many riders to coil by adding the mid-stroke support of an air shock. This should add support to keep riders higher in their bike’s travel, taking advantage of the whole travel range and preserving the bikes geo instead of sagging in.

Maxxis Minion vs. Aspen ST

Maxxis also had a few very different tires debuting at Sea Otter. We covered the Aspen ST release and limited Team Spec version release. But Maxxis also finally released a 2.5” version of its venerable DHR II rear tire, in all the flavours. DD to EXO and all the rubber compound options, meeting demand from riders for a beefier tire and adding OEM options for eMTBs.

Giant Trance X Advanced and Trance SX

Following Liv’s release of the Intrigue X, Giant dropped the new Trance X and Trance X Advanced. In carbon fibre and aluminum frames, the Trance X adds travel and, in a bigger change, adds an reach-adjust headset to allow riders to change the bike’s geometry and fit. It comes in carbon fibre and aluminum and in a longer travel SX version that further extends the bike’s 140mm rear travel to 145mm.

Rab adds to Cinder line

When we tested Rab’s Cinder line, we were super impressed. The mountaineering brand is adding, slowly, to the range. A new synthetic merino shirt breaths well and, apparently as a fringe benefit, really doesn’t show sweat. The vest brings its excellent technical fabric to the vest crowd. There are also new colours in the super-packable Phantom jacket and a few others in the range.

KS LEV Circuit wireless dropper post

KS Lev Circuit adds options to the wireless dropper market. There are a few key details that separate KS from the competition. The battery tucks partially into the seat head, making it more low profile and protecting the battery from the elements. Crucially, it also comes in up to 200mm travel, for both 31.6 and 30.9mm posts, instead of stopping at 170mm. It also has a lever that looks and fits more like a traditional lever, but with the quick touch of electronic drop. Playing with the remote in the stand, it feels like a solid contender to the existing wireless dropper post options, too.

Muc-Off high flow valves and fork grease

Muc-Off is joining the fray of high-flow tubeless valves. There are a few twists to the three valves Muc-Off is releasing. A standard, wide and adaptable version all use stainless-steel cores for a long, clog-free life. The cleaning brand also had a new Fork Grease, which apparently significantly extends stanction life, a ceramic frame cleaning kit, gravel sealant (which supposedly works up to 110 p.s.i.) and a bar bag on display.

Limar Livigno

Italian brand Limar expanded its mountain bike helmet line with a new, super-light DH certified full-face helmet, the Livigno. It uses MIPS, a dial-fit system, comes with two sets of pads and is actually designed to work with sunglasses or goggles. For those that want added protection while pedalling, Limar emphasizes air-flow through the front of the helmet. It joins the existing trail and enduro-style helmets already in the line.

MRP Lift Damper

MRP suspension a decade of making its own forks and shocks. Now its offering the Lift Damper to tune RockShox and Fox products. The damper drops into a wide range of both brand’s forks. It comes in five tunes, for rider weights between 110lbs and 270lbs. Unlike most one-tune-fits-all forks, the five weight-specific tunes are designed to give all riders a full range of usable external adjustments to rebound and compression, not just a small subset within a range that largely doesn’t apply to their weight. Lift Dampers join the Ramp Control cartridges that aim to replace tokens in Fox and RockShox forks with a more tuneable option.

Saris tailgate pad and eMTB ramp

Saris now has a tailgate pad, with a few interesting features to it. The Mid-West brand also added interesting, and backward compatible features to its MHS system, including a ramp for heavy (e)bikes. There’s also a cooler carrier and a fully-automatic lift-rack for those that can’t lift their bike onto a rack.

Knog Blinder lights

Knog’s brilliant (literally) 2300 lumen Blinder E light and Blinder E 1300 get support from in-line power. Plug it into your eBike system or, if you pedal under your own power, a battery pack. Crazy lumens with a more practical run-time than most options as compact as the Blinder.

D30 thinks beyond padding

D30 is expanding the uses of its non-newtonian material to include insoles and grips. The material diffuses impact by spreading it out over a wider surface (like, uh, a bad cop punching through a phone book. In … in movies). D30 also says its material has a vibration damping effect, which, if it works, is highly applicable to grips and insoles. 

Adidas Dunamis

Adidas has a feathery new pair of shades out. The Dunamis weigh just 98 grams, cover a wide field of vision and borrow, slightly, from Oakley’s latest. But just a bit. These offer a slightly modern take on the classic look at a minimal weight.

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Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

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LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

X

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

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Google’s partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces a UK competition investigation

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LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.

The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.

“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”

San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.

Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”

“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.

The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Kuwait bans ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’ video game, likely over it featuring Saddam Hussein in 1990s

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The tiny Mideast nation of Kuwait has banned the release of the video game “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6,” which features the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and is set in part in the 1990s Gulf War.

Kuwait has not publicly acknowledged banning the game, which is a tentpole product for the Microsoft-owned developer Activision and is set to be released on Friday worldwide. However, it comes as Kuwait still wrestles with the aftermath of the invasion and as video game makers more broadly deal with addressing historical and cultural issues in their work.

The video game, a first-person shooter, follows CIA operators fighting at times in the United States and also in the Middle East. Game-play trailers for the game show burning oilfields, a painful reminder for Kuwaitis who saw Iraqis set fire to the fields, causing vast ecological and economic damage. Iraqi troops damaged or set fire to over 700 wells.

There also are images of Saddam and Iraq’s old three-star flag in the footage released by developers ahead of the game’s launch. The game’s multiplayer section, a popular feature of the series, includes what appears to be a desert shootout in Kuwait called Scud after the Soviet missiles Saddam fired in the war. Another is called Babylon, after the ancient city in Iraq.

Activision acknowledged in a statement that the game “has not been approved for release in Kuwait,” but did not elaborate.

“All pre-orders in Kuwait will be cancelled and refunded to the original point of purchase,” the company said. “We remain hopeful that local authorities will reconsider, and allow players in Kuwait to enjoy this all-new experience in the Black Ops series.”

Kuwait’s Media Ministry did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press over the decision.

“Call of Duty,” which first began in 2003 as a first-person shooter set in World War II, has expanded into an empire worth billions of dollars now owned by Microsoft. But it also has been controversial as its gameplay entered the realm of geopolitics. China and Russia both banned chapters in the franchise. In 2009, an entry in the gaming franchise allowed players to take part in a militant attack at a Russian airport, killing civilians.

But there have been other games recently that won praise for their handling of the Mideast. Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed: Mirage” published last year won praise for its portrayal of Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age in the 9th century.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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