Day: April 16, 2021

Amazon Strong-arms Small Businesses to Share User Data

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Amazon reportedly pressured smart-thermostat maker Ecobee to fork over data from its voice-enabled devices even when customers weren’t actively using them. When Ecobee pushed back, the e-commerce giant threatened to box the company out of high-profile selling events like Prime Day or refuse Alexa certification for future devices, according to a Wall Street Journal report Read more about Amazon Strong-arms Small Businesses to Share User Data[…]

Microsoft received almost 25,000 requests for consumer data from law enforcement over the last six months

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Microsoft has had a busy six months if its latest biannual digital trust report is anything to go by as law enforcement agencies crept closer to making 25,000 legal requests. Requests for consumer data reached 24,798 during the second half of 2020, up from 24,093 during the previous six-month period, and quite a jump from Read more about Microsoft received almost 25,000 requests for consumer data from law enforcement over the last six months[…]

DARPA picks Lockheed Martin and Blue Origin to build nuclear spacecraft

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] To speed up the pace of NTP tech development, the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected a trio of companies to build and demonstrate a nuclear-based propulsion system on a spacecraft above low-Earth orbit by 2025. The prime contractors include Jeff Bezos’ private space project Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, and General Read more about DARPA picks Lockheed Martin and Blue Origin to build nuclear spacecraft[…]

Sound location inspired by bat ears could help robots navigate outdoors

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Sound location technology has often been patterned around the human ear, but why do that when bats are clearly better at it? Virginia Tech researchers have certainly asked that question. They’ve developed a sound location system that mates a bat-like ear design with a deep neural network to pinpoint sounds within half a degree — Read more about Sound location inspired by bat ears could help robots navigate outdoors[…]

US expels Russian diplomats in response to SolarWinds hack and election interference

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The US is following through on promises of retaliation against Russia for its alleged involvement in the SolarWinds cyberattack. The AP reports that President Biden has expelled 10 Russian diplomats from Washington, DC, including members of intelligence services, in response to actions that include the SolarWinds hack. The White House also imposed sanctions on 32 Read more about US expels Russian diplomats in response to SolarWinds hack and election interference[…]

Blue Origin launches and lands space rockets without exploding. Unlike SpaceX.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Blue Origin has successfully completed a test launch and landing of its reuseable New Shepard rocket with an advanced capsule design, bringing the outfit one step closer to eventually sending up paying passengers. The test flight, codenamed NS-15 as it’s the 15th to date, was conducted at 1651 UTC (1151 CDT) at a Blue Origin Read more about Blue Origin launches and lands space rockets without exploding. Unlike SpaceX.[…]

Millions of passwords leaked by hacked webshop Allekabels.nl

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Webshop Allekabels has leaked private data and passwords of millions of Dutch people. It may be the largest password data breach in the Netherlands ever. Allekabels’ stolen database, containing the private data of some 3.6 million people, was put up for sale on a hacker forum at the end of January for a sum of Read more about Millions of passwords leaked by hacked webshop Allekabels.nl[…]

SolarWinds hack was done by Kremlin’s APT29 crew, say UK and US

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Russia’s infamous APT 29, aka Cozy Bear, was behind the SolarWinds Orion attack, the US and UK governments said today as America slapped sanctions on Russian infosec companies as well as expelling diplomats from that country’s US embassy. One of the sanctioned companies is Positive Technologies, familiar in the West for, among other things, in-depth Read more about SolarWinds hack was done by Kremlin’s APT29 crew, say UK and US[…]

Google Earth Now Shows Decades of Climate Change in Seconds

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Google Earth has partnered with NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, and Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab to bring users time-lapse images of the planet’s surface—24 million satellite photos taken over 37 years. Together they offer photographic evidence of a planet changing faster than at any time in millennia. Shorelines creep Read more about Google Earth Now Shows Decades of Climate Change in Seconds[…]