And yet, paradoxically, there are more spots open for technical jobs than there are people to fill them. It’s a clear sign the tech industry can do more to ensure the success of underrepresented groups. Microsoft’s new Growth and Resilience in Tech Toolkit, a free 6-hour course available on Microsoft Learn, aims to do just that. I was able to speak with Amanda Silver, Microsoft’s CVP of Product for Developer Tools, about the new curriculum....

The company said it’s aggregating data for the dashboard from trusted sources like the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). [Read: Alphabet’s site for free coronavirus tests is now live] Plus, if you tap on a particular country, Microsoft’s dashboard shows localized information, including the latest news stories and videos....

This decision was announced on Microsoft’s blog. In the piece, the company explains that it has commissioned five different fonts that could potentially replace the current default, Calibri. The piece itself provides a balanced view of all these different options, going into an admirable amount of depth about why they may be suitable to become Microsoft Word’s next default font. Unfortunately though, we didn’t see this news on the blog....

The ridesharing company outlined many planned changes for its ecosystem, including joining its main app with UberEats so users only have to make requests from one place. Most of the features look well enough — the partnership with Feeding America which helps restaurants move uneaten food to banks via Uber Eats would be worth a gold star any other day — but it’s the safety features that are most notable, if only for the timing of their release....

Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have built a system called SprayableTech, that lets you create interactive surfaces. Through this new technology, you can spray a sign on your bedroom’s wall to turn on, turn off, and adjust the brightness of a lightbulb, or you can turn your sofa into a TV remote control. Here’s how it works: First, you have to make a model of the artwork in a 3D editor, and it generates stencils for airbrushing....

However, there is one problem with that assumption: The Shadow app is not a mobile voting platform. It is an app designed to send results from the precincts to the party headquarters. Unfortunately, the app was not properly tested and the precincts were not trained in how to use it. The party failure did a disservice to our democracy. Every election cycle, pundits point to record low voter turnout and blame Americans for not performing their civic duty....

The clamshell phone has a 6.2-inch display that folds in. On the top of the display, there a notch hosting a 5-megapixel camera, but it probably won’t bother you. There’s a 2.7-inch outer display as well to display notifications. While the phone’s design is drool-worthy, it’s spec-sheet might remind you of a mid-range phone from the last year. Specifications Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 Primary screen: 6.2-inch foldable pOLED Resolution: 2142 x 876 with 21:9 aspect ratio Secondary screen: 2....

In an internal email now made public in a blog post, the company cited the coronavirus as well as a new focus on developing monetizeable products as the reasons for the redundancies. “We are making significant changes at Mozilla Corporation today,” Mozilla Corporation CEO Mitchell Baker wrote in the email. “Our pre-COVID plan is no longer workable. We are also restructuring to put a crisper focus on new product development and go to market activities....

“The Voyager 1 (V1) and Voyager 2 (V2) spacecraft were launched in 1977 on a mission to explore the outer planets and reach the heliopause, the boundary between the hot solar plasma and the relatively cool interstellar plasma… One of their remarkable discoveries was the detection of shocks propagating into the interstellar plasma from energetic solar events,” researchers wrote in an article, published in The Astronomical Journal. Why is everyone so negative about electrons?...

The government, represented by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, filed a request for intervention and staying civil proceedings until the conclusion of the parallel criminal case, on November 18. Judge Loretta A. Preska from the New York Southern District Court ruled in favour of the government intervening in civil proceedings, which reportedly mirror the criminal case against Barry, Finance Feeds reports. “Upon the consent of all relevant parties, the Government’s application to intervene in the above entitled matter and to stay the matter in its entirety until the conclusion of the parallel criminal case, United States v....

Last year, nearly 200 million people visited the website of Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit that many people turn to for very private matters like sex education, access to contraceptives, and access to abortions. What those visitors may not have known is that as soon as they opened plannedparenthood.org, some two dozen ad trackers embedded in the site alerted a slew of companies whose business is not reproductive freedom but gathering, selling, and using browsing data....

NVIDIA opened yesterday’s trade with a market cap of $242.8 billion — just $4 billion short of its rival Intel. [Read: Watch Tesla’s meteoric rise — set to techno-remixed Elon Musk tweets] Both companies would go on to close the day in the green; NVIDIA’s 3.5% jump added $8.5 billion to its market value, while Intel’s grew by just $1.5 billion. This put NVIDIA ahead by more than $3 billion....

Sleuths at XDADevelopers spotted a filing at Indonesia’s regulatory body that mentions the product named the OnePlus Watch. The watch will likely run on Google’s WearOS platform powered by Qualcomm’s 4100 platform. The phone manufacturer has talked about the possibility of producing a smartwatch in the past. In 2016, it made a prototype, but decided against releasing it. A new report from TechRadar suggests that OnePlus has been looking to build a smartwatch over the last year....

The blacklist bars US individuals and companies from investing in these firms. This is different from Huawei’s trade ban where Americans were blocked from doing with the tech giant. So, Xiaomi won’t be barred from using Android, Google Play Store, or Qualcomm’s chips. Under this new ban, the commerce department could also block the import of “sensitive technology” from China or any other country. This new order specifies that US investors, such as chipmaker Qualcomm, will have to divest their stake by November 11....

Welcome to the latest edition of Pardon the Intrusion, TNW’s bi-weekly newsletter in which we explore the wild world of security. Owning a mobile phone today is an open invitation to be tracked by telecom firms and any company you grant permission to access your current whereabouts. Granted, this has its advantages. Giving, say, Google Maps permissions to your location can help you quickly plot the route to your next destination, or find interesting sights and restaurants around you....

According to the Financial Times, all 28 supporters of Facebook’s digital currency project were set to meet and discuss the ways in which Libra could overcome scrutiny from regulators. However, people familiar with the matter have told the FT that PayPal failed to show up. If the digital payments company were to quit Libra, this would certainly be a huge blow for the project, which is being led inside Facebook by Davi Marcus, formerly PayPal’s president....

Now, a peer-reviewed academic journal, ‘Quantitative Science Studies,’ made the controversial decision to publish a paper that claims men are inherently better suited for a career in physics than women — and concludes that women don’t face any more career hurdles than their male counterparts. In the study, the author and physicist, Alessandro Strumia, examines 1.3 million physics papers, published from 1970 to this year. After identifying the authors by gender, Strumia attempts to explain how quickly women with PhDs in physics are hired, how soon they publish papers, and how long they continue to do so, according to Science News....

I was happy when Google’s Area 120 team announced GameSnacks last year— a project to bring lightweight HTML5 games to low-powered Android devices. This was a way for many users with low connectivity to enjoy some casual games. At the time of launch, you could either go to the project’s site to play these games, or Indonesia’s GoJek app where it was integrated. Google has now understood that this might not be the best way to find these games, so now, it’s promoting them in Chrome for Android....

I can’t wait until my child grows up to become a drummer…said no parent ever. Look, no parent ever wants to squash the dreams of their kid. However, self-preservation does play a factor in how those dreams manifest. Even if a kid is musically inclined and ready to start playing instruments, no Mom or Dad is ever going to instinctively go for getting them a big, bulky, expensive drum kit without some serious arm-twisting....

In April 2019, police in the UK introduced new consent forms asking sexual assault survivors for permission to access their personal information stored on their phones. If survivors refuse to hand over phone data in this “digital strip search,” police will allegedly stop investigating their rape case. These consent forms, which have been rolled out by all 43 forces in England and Wales, ask the permission of survivors to pick apart seven years worth of text messages, photographs, email, and social media content....