It’s only March, but it’s safe to say that the phrase social distancing will be the official takeaway term that everyone remembers from 2020. From kids on the playground to seniors in retirement communities, everyone is at least conscious of the six feet rule — though some are doing a better job of enacting that rule than others. Forgive those in Wyoming and Montana, for they know not what they do....
The outbreak has been falsely blamed on the 5G rollout damaging immune systems, an experiment gone wrong in a Chinese research facility, and, of course, the Rothschilds wanting more money, this time through their ownership of a patent to coronavirus. More dangerous than the conspiracy theories is the misleading medical advice, even when it comes with good intentions. False claims that the virus doesn’t infect children and that the infection dies in temperatures above 27C have been seen by hundreds of thousands of people....
Activision revealed today that killstreak rewards are back, and they include the usual buffs — armor, tanks, and an area-of-effect smokescreen. The latter is apparently white phosphorus — the announcement also mentions that it’ll harm anyone who gets too close. Purely from a gameplay standpoint, it sounds like a good way to control various parts of the map. And it is sort of realistic that it causes lingering burns, though that’s not necessarily a good thing....
Many organisations have recognized the opportunities this presents. Political parties are no exception. The 2008 election in the United States is widely regarded as a tipping point for the use of mobile devices in political campaigning. Since then it’s become common for politicians all over the world to canvas for support and engage with the electorate using mobile messaging services. South Africa is no exception. In the lead up to the country’s 2014 national election and its 2016 local government elections, almost all the major political parties deployed a raft of mobile marketing strategies....
The four crew members will not be the first space tourists this year. In the past few months, the world witnessed billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos launching themselves and a lucky few others into space on brief suborbital trips. While there are similarities between those launches and Inspiration4 — the mission is being paid for by one billionaire and is using a rocket built by another, Elon Musk — the differences are noteworthy....
Personally, I’m very satisfied with the few Apple products I own (my MacBook Air, for instance) and I’d be curious to see what the fabled Apple Car would look like, although I’m not really dying over it. I can imagine though that for those of you who absolutely love the brand, an “iCar” would be like the ultimate must-have, and in that case waiting in uncertainty is torture. But, folks, there’s no need to be in despair....
The government is trying to achieve a renaissance in vocational education with its industry-focused T-level courses for students, “Skills Bootcamp” retraining programs for adults, and increased funding for further education in general. Together with the recent announcement of a new Nissan “mega-factory” in Sunderland, some might argue that the UK is finally becoming a high-skill vocational manufacturing economy to rival Germany and Japan. Unfortunately, the world is moving on. In the factories of the future, the role of skills will be dramatically different....
The gist: When companies such as Spotify use your data to train its AI, they remove all the identifying markers such as your name, account number, or anything else a computer or person could use to immediately identify you. What’s left is the raw data on your listening preferences such as how many times you’ve listened to a track and whether you’ve given a track a thumbs up or not....
By: Todd Feathers and Alfred Ng In late 2019, Utah state senator Kirk Cullimore got a phone call from one of his constituents, a lawyer who represented technology companies in California. “He said, ‘I think the businesses I represent would like to have some bright lines about what they can do in Utah,’ ” Cullimore told The Markup. At the time, tech companies in California were struggling with how they could comply with a new state law that gave individual Californians control over the data that corporations routinely gather and sell about their online activities....
According to the Bangkok Post, the cryptocurrency project, known as “Khung Nong Cryptocurrency Trading,” became famous in parts of the country in 2018. The scheme allegedly promised maximum returns of 8 percent per week, attracting individuals from Krabi, Trang, Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat who sold their assets — including cars, businesses, and land — in order to invest. [Read: Thailand’s oldest bank hints at new blockchain app powered by Ripple] Human rights activist Phadungsak Tienpairoj, who has referred 20 victims to the DSI, has now reportedly taken up the case and prompted the department to investigate alongside law enforcement in the Krabi province....
Well, friends, gather round; there’s something I have to tell you. Okay, let me take a deep breath. Here we go. I’m now undeniably a terrible person, and it’s all down to the AirPods Pro. When Apple first announced the latest version of its true wireless earbuds, I was intrigued, but far from excited. Yeah, they looked like an improvement over the previous generation, but also seemed an exercise in branding and marketing....
Needless to say, there was no army of left-wing “supersoldiers” marching across Oregon, nor were former president Barack Obama and billionaire George Soros known to be funding anything antifa-related. And the politician in question didn’t actually say there were “supersoldiers.” The headline, originally from the often-sarcastic, progressive blog Wonkette, was never meant to be taken as straight news. The whole thing was a mishap born of the modern news age, in which what headlines you see is decided not by a hard-bitten front-page editor but instead by layers of algorithms designed to pick what’s news and who should be shown it....
He’s right, of course; to a point. But focusing on safety alone could seriously hamper the progress of AVs, and could actually lead to less safe conditions for motorists overall, counterintuitive as that sounds. By designing AVs to follow only the safest of protocols we risk gridlock and increased numbers of frustrated human drivers making dangerous driving decisions out of frustration, or ‘bullying’ AVs they consider too conservative. The safest AVs, and those that deliver the greatest social benefit, will not be those that are most cautious, but those that can best interact with human road users....
Among the proponents is Citizens Online, a charity that campaigns against digital exclusion, which has urged the UK government to make the internet free for everyone in the country during the pandemic. The organization argues that older people were already more likely to experience digital inequality prior to the outbreak. More than a third of people over 65 and more than half of those over 75 had either never used the internet before or not used it in the last three months....
The internet — and now Web3 — has created an environment where anyone can share their creations with people worldwide. Digital technology has also enabled professionals to work remotely without being tied down by an office job. The creator economy encompasses the new generation of creators and innovators who are not limited by the 9–5. This trend has been emerging for years, but it’s only recently been given a name....
The Capisco from HÅG, a design firm within the Flokk furniture group, is nothing like that. This quirky-looking chair retails starting at about $549, depending on the variant you choose, but it doesn’t offer cloud-like cushioning, meticulous armrest positioning, a shape-shifting backrest, or infinite adjustability. Yet it still manages to be extremely comfortable because rather than doing its best to support a stationary body, it makes sure you aren’t too stationary in the first place — and encourages you to sit in ways that never even crossed your mind as comfortable....
Astronomers see into the deep past when we view distant objects. Light travels at a constant speed (3×10⁸ meters per second) so the further away an object is, the longer it takes for the light to reach us. By the time the light reaches us from very distant stars, the light we are looking at can be billions of years old. So we are looking at events that happened in the past....
Now, thanks to the Chinese certification site, TENAA, we know about these specs too. All three phones – the iPhone 11, the iPhone 11 Pro, and the iPhone 11 Pro Max – have just 4GB RAM. This is the same amount of RAM as in the last-gen iPhones. It doesn’t matter because, regardless of what specifications sheets and benchmarks tell you, Apple knows how to make its iPhones perform well with most apps designed for those devices....
This year, Apple is planning to switch things up with its camera set up and introduce autofocus in the ultra-wide-angle sensor. According to renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the company will introduce this functionality in the Pro models launching this year, and bring it to non-Pro models in 2022. The wide-angle lens and the telephoto lens on the Pro models already have an autofocus feature, helping you to capture photos by concentrating on a single object in the frame....
Over the weekend, ByteDance, the owner of China’s Tiktok version called Douyin, said that it’s introducing a new ‘Youth Mode’ for kids under 14. This new mode will let them use the app for just 40 minutes a day. Plus, they’re not allowed to use it between 10PM and 6AM. This Youth Mode is applicable to users who are registered with their real name using the country’s authentication system — which requires users to verify themselves with a government ID — rolled out last year....
