 WhatsApp Delays Enforcement of Privacy Terms by 3 Months, Following Backlash
WhatsApp said on Friday that it won't enforce the planned update to its data-sharing policy until May 15, weeks after news about the new terms created confusion among its users, exposed the Facebook-app to a potential lawsuit, triggered a nationwide investigation, and drove tens of millions of its loyal fans to explore alternative messaging apps. From a report: "We're now moving back the date on which people will be asked to review and accept the terms. No one will have their account suspended o
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NSA Warns Against Using DoH Inside Enterprise Networks
The US National Security Agency has published this week a guide on the benefits and risks of encrypted DNS protocols, such as DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH), which have become widely used over the past two years. From a report: The US cybersecurity agency warns that while technologies like DoH can encrypt and hide user DNS queries from network observers, they also have downsides when used inside corporate networks. "DoH is not a panacea," the NSA said in a security advisory [PDF] published today, claiming
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Apple Plans Podcasting Subscription Service in Threat To Spotify
Apple -- long considered the sleeping giant in the podcast space -- is waking up. The company, which runs the most widely used podcasting app in the industry, is discussing launching a new subscription service [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source] that would charge people to listen to podcasts, The Information according to people familiar with the matter. From a report: Such a service could pose a threat to Spotify, SiriusXM, Amazon and other big companies that have in t
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Intel Has To Be Better Than 'Lifestyle Company' Apple at Making CPUs, Says New CEO
Intel's new CEO, Pat Gelsinger, doesn't start his new role until February, but he's already prepping the company to take on Apple's M1 chips. From a report: The Oregonian, a local newspaper in Oregon where Intel maintains a large presence, reports that the chip maker held an all-hands company meeting yesterday, and Gelsinger attended. "We have to deliver better products to the PC ecosystem than any possible thing that a lifestyle company in Cupertino" makes, Gelsinger reportedly told Intel emplo
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Apple Plans Upgraded MacBook Pros With Return of Magnetic Charging
Apple is planning upgraded MacBook Pro laptops this year with much faster processors, updated displays and the return of its magnetic charger, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing a person with knowledge of the plans. From the report: The new laptops are planned to come in two screen sizes, a 14-inch model codenamed J314 and a 16-inch version internally dubbed J316. Both will use next-generation versions of Apple's in-house Mac processors, upgraded with more cores and enhanced graphics, the person
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Ford Halts Focus Car Plant for Full Month Due To Chip Shortage
Ford Motor is halting production of its most popular car model in Europe for a full month because of the shortage of semiconductors disrupting the worldâ(TM)s biggest automakers. From a report: The automaker's Focus factory in Saarlouis, Germany, will idle from Jan. 18 through Feb. 19, according to a spokesman, who said lower consumer demand also is playing a factor. The plant is Ford's lone manufacturing facility for the Focus and employs about 5,000 workers. The facility is the latest to
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Why Cancer Cells Waste So Much Energy
MIT News: In the 1920s, German chemist Otto Warburg discovered that cancer cells don't metabolize sugar the same way that healthy cells usually do. Since then, scientists have tried to figure out why cancer cells use this alternative pathway, which is much less efficient. MIT biologists have now found a possible answer to this longstanding question. In a study appearing in Molecular Cell, they showed that this metabolic pathway, known as fermentation, helps cells to regenerate large quantities o
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Apple Testing Vapor Chamber Thermal Tech For Next-Gen iPhone, Kuo Says
Noted TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in a report on Friday said recent industry surveys indicate Apple is "aggressively" testing vapor chamber thermal systems for use in iPhone, suggesting the technology will make its way to the flagship handset in the near future. From a report: Kuo believes Apple is highly likely to incorporate vapor chamber tech into an upcoming iPhone model, though it is not clear if the system will be ready in time for 2021. Generally speaking, vapor chamb
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US Blacklists Xiaomi in Widening Assault on China Tech
Xiaomi plunged a record 10% after the Trump administration blacklisted China's No. 2 smartphone maker and 10 other companies, broadening efforts to undercut the expansion of the country's technology sector. From a report, shared by dxxt: The U.S. has targeted scores of Chinese companies for the stated purpose of protecting national security, but going after Xiaomi was unexpected. The Beijing-based company has been viewed as China's answer to Apple, producing sleek smartphones that draw loyal fan
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Amazon Will Let Companies Build Voice Assistants on Alexa
Amazon.com is offering other companies the ability to use the building blocks of the Alexa digital assistant for their own automated versions, the latest effort to embed the company's voice software into other devices. From a report: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV will be the first to use Alexa Custom Assistant, relying on Amazon-built speech recognition and other software to power the automaker's in-car tools, Amazon said Friday in a statement. The retail and technology giant also invited other c
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 How Twitter is handling the 2021 US presidential transition
Twitter has set out its plans for US Inauguration Day 2021, next Wednesday, January 20, when president-elect Joe Biden will be sworn into office as the 46th US president and vice president-elect Kamala Harris will become VP. “This year, multiple challenging circumstances will require that most people experience this historic ceremony virtually,” the social media […]
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Tech Coalition Working To Create Digital COVID-19 Vaccination Passport
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Hill: A coalition of health and technology organizations are working to develop a digital COVID-19 vaccination passport to allow businesses, airlines and countries to check if people have received the vaccine. The Vaccination Credential Initiative, announced on Thursday, is formulating technology to confirm vaccinations in the likelihood that some governments will mandate people provide proof of their shots in order to enter the nation. The organizati
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As home sales skyrocket and IPO looms, Diane Yu joins fintech Better.com as CTO
The pandemic might have wiped out whole swaths of the economy, but one area that is pulsating with activity is home sales. Driven by remote work and changing commute patterns, home sales skyrocketed last year, with the National Association of Realtors predicting that the total volume when fully calculated will be the highest in 14 […]
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EMA warns over doctored COVID-19 vaccine data hacked and leaked online
The European Medical Agency (EMA) has warned that information on COVID-19-related medicines and vaccines, which was stolen in a cyber attack last December and leaked online earlier this week, includes correspondence that’s been manipulated prior to publication “in a way which could undermine trust in vaccines”. It’s not clear exactly how the information — which […]
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Gemini Is Launching a Credit Card With Bitcoin Rewards
Later this year, cryptocurrency exchange company Gemini is planning to launch a credit card that earns bitcoin rewards based on your purchases. It's based on the work done by Blockrize, a fintech startup which Gemini has acquired for an undisclosed sum. TechCrunch reports: The credit card will work like any other credit card and will be available in the U.S. Customers will earn up to 3% in bitcoin rewards (again, up to 3%). You'll be able to earn other crypto assets as well. Those rewards will b
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Samsung's Galaxy Buds Pro are a solid AirPods alternative
I suspect it will be a while before I get excited over wireless earbuds. It's not for a lack of trying on the part of manufacturers. In fact, quite the contrary. The category actually matured quite quickly, compared to various other verticals in the consumer electronics space. The truth is, most major hardware makers have […]
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'Magic Mushrooms' Grow In Man's Blood After Injection With Shroom Tea
John Trumpian shares a report from Live Science: A man brewed a tea from "magic mushrooms" and injected the concoction into his veins; several days later, he ended up at the emergency department with the fungus growing in his blood. The man spent 22 days in the hospital, with eight of those days in the intensive care unit (ICU), where he received treatment for multisystem organ failure. Now released, he is still being treated with a long-term regimen of antibiotic and antifungal drugs, according
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Bumble files to go public
The dating and networking service Bumble has filed to go public. The company, launched by a former co-founder of the IAC-owned Tinder, plans to list its share on the Nasdaq stock exchange, using the ticker symbol “BMBL.” Bumble’s planned IPO was first reported in December. Whitney Wolfe Herd doesn't care what she's supposed to do Bumble […]
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Trump Administration adds Xiaomi to military blacklist
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is the latest to be added to the Trump Administration’s military blacklist. On Thursday, the Department of Defense added nine more companies to its list of alleged Chinese military companies, including Xiaomi. Xiaomi was the world’s third-largest smartphone maker as of Q3 last year, coming ahead of Apple and trailing behind […]
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Uber planning to spin out Postmates' delivery robot arm
Another Uber spinout is in the works. Postmates X, the robotics division of the on-demand delivery startup that Uber acquired last year for $2.65 billion, is seeking investors in its bid to become a separate company, according to several people familiar with the plans. The startup is being referred to as Serve Robotics, a nod […]
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2020 Was Second-Hottest Year On Record, NOAA Says
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NBC News: Data released Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, showed that 2020 now ranks as the second-hottest year, with average temperatures hitting 58.77 degrees Fahrenheit -- a mere 0.04 degrees cooler than 2016, which holds the record. The Northern Hemisphere experienced its hottest year on record, surpassing the 20th century average by 2.3 degrees, according to NOAA. Oceans were also "exceptionally warm" last year
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Crossbeam raises $25M to back startups built on 'platform economies'
While many venture capitalists might hope to fund the next Amazon or Shopify, Crossbeam is a new firm focused on backing the startups built on top of these platforms. And it recently closed its $25 million first fund. We’ve written about well-funded startups like SellerX, Perch and Heroes that acquire and grow Amazon businesses, and […]
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Facial Recognition Reveals Political Party In Troubling New Research
Researchers have created a machine learning system that they claim can determine a person's political party, with reasonable accuracy, based only on their face. TechCrunch reports: The study, which appeared this week in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, was conducted by Stanford University's Michal Kosinski. Kosinski made headlines in 2017 with work that found that a person's sexual preference could be predicted from facial data. [...] The algorithm itself is not some hyper-advanced technol
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 Galaxy Buds Pro review: Worth the upgrade? video - CNET
Samsung's new $200 noise-canceling earbuds feature excellent sound and call quality, but their fit could affect their noise-canceling performance. CNET's David Carnoy discusses whether they're right for you. Plus, how they stack up against the Galaxy Buds Plus and competing noise-canceling true-wireless earbuds.
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Corporate credit card platform Moss raises $25.5 million
German startup Moss has raised a $25.5 million (€21 million) funding round led by Valar Ventures. Existing investors Cherry Ventures and Global Founders Capital are also participating. Moss provides credit cards and a spending platform to small and medium businesses in Germany. The company has developed its own risk engine to come up with a […]
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Video game spending increased 27% in 2020
If you've been following the gaming space — or just the state of the world, generally — over the past 12 months, this shouldn't come as a major surprise. Spending saw big increases pretty much across the board in 2020 as a homebound populace sought comfort and distraction in gaming. This comes in stark contrast […]
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MIT Professor Charged With Hiding Work For China
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor was charged Thursday with hiding work he did for the Chinese government while he was also collecting U.S. dollars for his nanotechnology research. The Associate Press reports: Gang Chen, 56, was arrested by federal agents at his home in Cambridge on charges including wire fraud, officials said. While working for MIT, Chen entered into undisclosed contracts and held appointments with Chinese entities, including acting as an "overseas expert" for t
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Windows 10 Bug Corrupts Your Hard Drive On Seeing This File's Icon
An unpatched zero-day in Microsoft Windows 10 allows attackers to corrupt an NTFS-formatted hard drive with a one-line command. Bleeping Computer reports: In August 2020, October 2020, and finally this week, infosec researcher Jonas L drew attention to an NTFS vulnerability impacting Windows 10 that has not been fixed. When exploited, this vulnerability can be triggered by a single-line command to instantly corrupt an NTFS-formatted hard drive, with Windows prompting the user to restart their co
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Andrew Yang Kicks Off NYC Mayoral Run With Basic Income Promise
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Aljazeera: Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang, a former presidential contender, officially declared his run for New York City mayor. In a campaign video released late Wednesday on Twitter, Yang put forth an agenda that included a guaranteed minimum income, bringing universal high-speed Internet, starting a "people's bank" and reopening New York City "intelligently" from the pandemic. "I moved to New York City 25 years ago," he said in the video. "I came of age
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Medical Study Suggests iPhone 12 With MagSafe Can Deactivate Pacemakers
AmiMoJo shares a report from 9to5Mac: When Apple revived MagSafe with the iPhone 12 lineup, one question brought up was how these latest devices with more magnets would interact with medical devices like pacemakers. Apple's official word was that iPhone 12/MagSafe wouldn't interfere more than previous iPhones. Now one of the first medical studies has been published by the Heart Rhythm Journal that saw a Medtronic pacemaker deactivated by holding an iPhone 12 near it (via MacMagazine. It doesn't
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Google Closes the Fitbit Acquisition, Pledges To Not Use Data For Ads
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Today Google's senior VP of Hardware, Rick Osterloh, announced Google has closed its acquisition of Fitbit. The $2.1 billion deal was announced back in November 2019, which kicked off a regulatory review process from governments around the world concerned about Google's influence over the Internet and the data it can collect on users. Normally, Osterloh announcing "Google has completed its acquisition of Fitbit, and I want to personally welc
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Jack Dorsey Defends Twitter's Trump Ban, Then Enthuses About Bitcoin
After Twitter banned President Trump's account last week, the site and its executives, including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, were largely silent in justifying their decision. That changed last night when Dorsey, in a series of tweets, explained that he felt banning Trump's account was the right move for the social network. The Verge reports: "Offline harm as a result of online speech is demonstrably real, and what drives our policy and enforcement above all," he wrote. Dorsey blamed Twitter's failu
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The Richer You are, The More Likely You'll Social Distance, Study Finds
The higher a person's income, the more likely they were to protect themselves at the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States, Johns Hopkins University economists find. From a report: When it comes to adopting behaviors including social distancing and mask wearing, the team detected a striking link to their financial well-being. People who made around $230,000 a year were as much as 54% more likely to increase these types of self-protective behaviors compared to people making a
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Swimm raises $5.7M to help teams document their code
Most developers don’t enjoy writing documentation for their code and that makes life quite a bit harder when a new team member tries to get started on working on a company’s codebase. And even when there are documentation or in-line comments in the source code, that’s often not updated, and, over time, that information becomes […]
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Is Letterboxd Becoming a Blockbuster?
Early last decade, Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow, web designers based in Auckland, New Zealand, were seeking a passion project. Their business, a boutique web design studio called Cactuslab, developed apps and websites for various clients, but they wanted a project of their own that their team could plug away at when there wasn't much else to do. From a report: Buchanan had an idea for a social media site about movies. At the time, he reflected, he used Flickr to share photos and Last.fm
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Amazon Makes It Too Hard To Cancel Prime, Groups Tell Regulators
A coalition of public interest advocates is asking U.S. regulators to investigate whether Amazon.com violates consumer protection laws with its process for canceling Prime subscriptions. From a report: In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday, a group led by Public Citizen said the steps required to cancel Prime "are designed to unfairly and deceptively undermine the will of the consumer," and may violate both FTC rules as well as other consumer protection laws. The letter draws o
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Daily Crunch: Samsung unveils Galaxy S21 line
Samsung lowers prices with its latest Galaxy S phones, Google completes its Fitbit acquisition and Beyond Meat is coming to Taco Bell. This is your Daily Crunch for January 14, 2021. The big story: Samsung unveils Galaxy S21 line Samsung’s new line of phones includes the S21, S21+ and S21 Ultra, priced at $799, $999 […]
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iSpot expands its ad measurement platform by acquiring Ace Metrix
ISpot.tv announced today that it has acquired Ace Metrix, a deal that brings two TV and video ad measurement companies together. ISpot founder and CEO Sean Muller said that the companies have complementary solutions. After all, he said, “In simple terms, there are only two reasons why brands buy advertising — one is to deliver business […]
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The Fractured Tech Lobby's Uphill Battles
Silicon Valley's leading lobby, the Internet Association, is struggling to manage the competing interests of the companies it represents just as the industry faces a tide of bipartisan anger. From a report: Tech will fight policy battles around antitrust, content moderation and privacy without a unified industry voice. Major tech firms have drawn attention in recent days for pressing pause on political donations in the wake of last week's deadly attack on the Capitol. But lobbying, the other maj
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Blue Origin Successfully Launches and Lands Key Crew Capsule Test in First Mission of 2021
Blue Origin launched its first mission of 2021, flying its New Shepard rocket in West Texas to a medium height of just over 350,000 feet. From a report: This is the first flight for this particular booster, and for the capsule it carried, which was equipped with a range of new passenger safety, control and comfort systems that Blue Origin was testing during flight for the first time. Also on board was a life-sized test dummy called 'Mannequin Skywalker' that recorded information during the fligh
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Samsung Inadvertently Used iPhone To Tweet Galaxy S21 and S21+ Promo
Samsung committed a tech faux earlier this week when it issued a promotional tweet from an iPhone, the flagship handset made by a smartphone market arch rival. "With #SamsungUnpacked drawing closer, we're working hard to bring you some exciting news. Which field of innovation and advancement are you hoping to see us reveal?" Samsung asks in the tweet.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Windows 10X for Single Screens Leaks
Just ahead of its launch for commercial PC-like devices, an install image of Windows 10X for single screens has leaked, giving us an early peek at Microsoft's new OS. And yes, it's just like Chrome OS. From a report: Let's just get that out of the way. Microsoft has been working for years on a Chromebook competitor, but it has been largely unsuccessful. Windows 10 S, which was originally called Windows 10 Cloud, was Terry Myerson's approach, and that, of course, crashed and burned, in part becau
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Medium acquires social book reading app Glose
Medium is acquiring Paris-based startup Glose for an undisclosed amount. Glose has been building iOS, Android and web apps that let you buy, download and read books on your devices. The company has turned reading into a multiplayer experience, as you can build a bookshelf, share notes with your followers and start conversations in the […]
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Amazon's Ring Neighbors App Exposed Users' Precise Locations and Home Addresses
A security flaw in Ring's Neighbors app was exposing the precise locations and home addresses of users who had posted to the app. From a report: Ring, the video doorbell and home security startup acquired by Amazon for $1 billion, launched Neighbors in 2018 as a breakaway feature in its own standalone app. Neighbors is one of several neighborhood watch apps, like Nextdoor and Citizen, that lets users anonymously alert nearby residents to crime and public-safety issues. While users' posts are pub
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Google Reveals Sophisticated Windows and Android Hacking Operation
Google published a six-part report this week detailing a sophisticated hacking operation that the company detected in early 2020 and which targeted owners of both Android and Windows devices. From a report: The attacks were carried out via two exploit servers delivering different exploit chains via watering hole attacks, Google said. "One server targeted Windows users, the other targeted Android," Project Zero, one of Google's security teams, said in the first of six blog posts. Google said that
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