Linking ideas with the world
Across the globe, governments are imposing travel limits in a bid to stem the spread of coronavirus. The unintended consequence is a squeeze on migrant labor that’s a cornerstone of food production. American produce growers preparing to harvest crops are warning of a devastating impact on fruit and vegetables after the U.S. Embassy in Mexico Read more about Virus Travel Bans Threaten Labor for Global Food Harvests[…]
Techdirt has just written about the extraordinary legal action taken against a company producing Covid-19 tests. Sadly, it’s not the only example of some individuals putting profits before people. Here’s a story from Italy, which is currently seeing more new coronavirus cases and deaths than anywhere else in the world. Last Thursday, a hospital in Read more about Volunteers 3D-Print Unobtainable $11,000 Valve For $1 To Keep Covid-19 Patients Alive; Original Manufacturer Threatens To Sue[…]
Last month we reported about Tesla’s occasional practice of removing features like Autopilot and Ludicrous mode from used cars after they’d been purchased by people who bought the cars with those features enabled. While Tesla eventually restored the removed features to the subject of the original story, I’ve been in touch with a number of Read more about Tesla’s Removal Of Features On Used Cars Appears To Be In Violation Of Its Own Rules[…]
KPN and VodafoneZiggo do not have to open their networks to third parties. That is what the Board of Appeal for Business has decided today. This means that providers without their own network cannot enforce access to those networks for the provision of services. The ACM had stipulated that KPN and VodafoneZiggo should both open Read more about High Court in NL likes monopolies and destroys cusomter oversight decision to open KPN and VodafoneZiggo networks (copper and cable) to 3rd parties[…]
Google Translate today launched Transcribe for Android, a feature that delivers a continual, real-time translation of a conversation. Transcribe will begin by rolling out support for eight languages in the coming days: English, French, German, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai. With Transcribe, Translate is now capable of translating classroom or conference lectures with no Read more about Google Translate launches Transcribe for Android in 8 languages[…]
Remember Theranos? The blood-testing company worth billions whose CEO Elizabeth Holmes became a celebrity right up until the point when it became clear its revolutionary testing machines didn’t actually work as described? Well, Theranos is dead, and Holmes is still dealing with the legal repercussions, but her vampire company has come alive again – and Read more about Theranos vampire lives on: Owner of failed blood-testing biz’s patents sues maker of actual COVID-19-testing kit[…]
Pervasive surveillance through digital technologies is the business model of Facebook and Google. And now governments are considering the web giants’ tools to track COVID-19 carriers for the public good. Among democracies, Israel appears to have gone first: prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced “emergency regulations that will enable the use of digital means in Read more about Pervasive digital locational surveillance of citizens deployed in COVID-19 fight[…]
Research Brief: Ad Tech Fuels Disinformation Sites in Europe – The Numbers and Players The report shows how adverts for high street brands are inadvertently funding some of the most well-known sites for spreading disinformation in Europe. Five companies account for 97% of ad revenues paid to EU disinformation sites: Google, Criteo, OpenX, Taboola and Read more about Fake News sites pull in around $72m over the EU in advertising[…]
Rutgers researchers have discovered the origins of the protein structures responsible for metabolism: simple molecules that powered early life on Earth and serve as chemical signals that NASA could use to search for life on other planets. Their study, which predicts what the earliest proteins looked like 3.5 billion to 2.5 billion years ago, is Read more about Scientists have discovered the origins of the building blocks of life[…]
With the spreading coronavirus pandemic forcing movie theaters to close, Comcast is breaking with tradition and making a number of new movies available to watch at home. Universal’s “Trolls World Tour” will be the first movie it will simultaneously debut online and in theaters on April 10. Other films that are currently in theaters, like “The Invisible Read more about Universal to release movies online while they are in theaters, starting with ‘Trolls World Tour’[…]
Earlier today, March 16, Brave filed a formal complaint against Google with the lead General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enforcer in Europe. In a February Cointelegraph interview, Dr. Johnny Ryan, Brave’s chief policy and industry relations officer, explained that Google is abusing its power by sharing user data collected by dozens of its distinct services, Read more about Brave Browser Delivers on Promise, Files GDPR Complaint Against Google[…]
Partly in response to this licensing mess, and HEVC’s high per-device cost, the Alliance for Open Media was formed in September 2015: Seven leading Internet companies today announced formation of the Alliance for Open Media — an open-source project that will develop next-generation media formats, codecs and technologies in the public interest. The Alliance’s founding Read more about Former Refrigerator Manufacturer Says Companies Using Open Source, Royalty-Free Video Technology Must Pay To License 2,000 Patents – wait what?![…]
Apparently you can use textured sheets on your 3d printer’s print bed to imprint that texture on the first layer of your print. Sounds obvious right? Well, what if that textured sheet is fine enough to give an irridescent or holographic effect? Yup, that works too! “Kryvian” shared this example where you can clearly see Read more about This Clever Trick Embeds Holographic Patterns In Your 3D Prints[…]
Apple has been hit with a record-breaking fine for antitrust practices. French competition authority Autorité de la Concurrence has found Apple and its wholesale distribution partners Ingram Micro and Tech Data guilty of running a cartel for Apple products, and has fined the companies €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion), €62.9 million ($70.2 million) and €76.1 million Read more about Apple hit with record-breaking $1.2 billion antitrust price fixing fine in France together with Ingram Micro ($79.2m) and Tech Data ($85m)[…]
Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have created a new, rubber-like material with a unique set of properties that could act as a replacement for human tissue in medical procedures. The material has the potential to make a big difference to many people’s lives. The research was recently published in the highly regarded scientific Read more about Nanostructured rubber-like material with optimal properties could replace human tissue[…]
Researchers have discovered another big database containing millions of European customer records left unsecured on Amazon Web Services (AWS) for anyone to find using a search engine. A total of eight million records were involved, collected via marketplace and payment system APIs belonging to companies including Amazon, eBay, Shopify, PayPal, and Stripe. Discovered by Comparitech’s Read more about Data of millions of eBay and Amazon shoppers exposed by VAT analysing 3rd party[…]
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket aborted a planned launch on Sunday morning at the last second due to an engine power issue. The event produced confusion at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where countdown appeared to be proceeding normally. However, the rocket stayed where it was. In a video published by SpaceX, you can Read more about Watch This SpaceX Rocket Abort Its Launch at the Last Second[…]
TensorFlow Quantum (TFQ) is a quantum machine learning library for rapid prototyping of hybrid quantum-classical ML models. Research in quantum algorithms and applications can leverage Google’s quantum computing frameworks, all from within TensorFlow. TensorFlow Quantum focuses on quantum data and building hybrid quantum-classical models. It integrates quantum computing algorithms and logic designed in Cirq, and Read more about TensorFlow Quantum[…]
You can always count on Koenigsegg to do things differently. Take the Swedish brand’s newest car, the Gemera, a 1700-hp four-seat hybrid grand tourer that can crest 250 mph. In a world filled with more ultra-high-dollar supercars than ever, the Gemera stands out. And perhaps the most interesting thing about the car is its engine. Read more about How Koenigsegg’s 2-Liter 3 cylinder No-Cam Engine Makes 600 Horsepower[…]
Hackers have slurped biz comms customers’ data from a database run by one of O2’s largest UK partners. In an email sent to its customers, the partner, Aerial Direct, said that an unauthorised third party had been able to access customer data on 26 February through an external backup database, which included personal information on Read more about Your data was ‘taken without permission’, customers told, after personal info accessed in O2 UK partner Aerial Direct database[…]
Earlier this month, the multibillion-dollar cruise conglomerate Carnival Corp. announced that two of its most popular lines—Holland America and Princess Cruises—were respectively slammed with hacks compromising the sensitive personal intel of cruise-goers and cruise-workers alike. Even though neither announcement makes mention of when each respective breach was disclosed, pulling up the source code for the Read more about Carnival Corp. (Holland America / Princess Cruises) Discloses nasty customer Data Breach Amid Covid-19 Panic[…]
Astronomers have discovered 139 minor planets lurking at the edge of the Solar System after examining a dataset collected to study dark energy in the universe. Small worlds that circle our Sun in orbits further out than Neptune are labelled trans-Neptunian objects (TNO), with one being the relegated-planet Pluto. Eggheads, led by those at the Read more about 139 minor planets were spotted at the outer reaches of our Solar System.[…]
Whisper, the secret-sharing app that called itself the “safest place on the Internet,” left years of users’ most intimate confessions exposed on the Web tied to their age, location and other details, raising alarm among cybersecurity researchers that users could have been unmasked or blackmailed. The data exposure, discovered by independent researchers and shown to Read more about 900 Million Secrets From 8 Years of ‘Whisper’ App Were Left Exposed Online[…]
It’s one of the biggest economic changes in recent decades: Workers get a smaller slice of company revenue, while a larger share is paid to capital owners and distributed as profits. Or, as economists like to say, there has been a fall in labor’s share of gross domestic product, or GDP. A new study co-authored Read more about Why are workers getting smaller pieces of the pie?[…]
A happy accident in the laboratory has led to a breakthrough discovery that not only solved a problem that stood for more than half a century, but has major implications for the development of quantum computers and sensors.In a study published today in Nature, a team of engineers at UNSW Sydney has done what a Read more about Engineers rediscover electric control of atomic nuclius, get it working. Means easy quantum computer control among other things.[…]