— Andy Oz (@AndyOz2) October 2, 2020 But where did this story come from – and should we give it any credence? The newspaper reports are based on a case study published in a respected medical journal, JAMA Otolaryngol Head & Neck Surgery. It tells of a woman in Iowa, USA, who was asked to self-swab for COVID before undergoing a hernia operation. Shortly after swabbing, fluid began leaking from her nose....

This time last year, I’d gotten my advance copy of RDR2 and was trying to write up the story review (my colleague Nino wrote the nuts-and-bolts review that came out earlier in the week). I felt I had to finish the story, given how the first game ended. I will admit that I left a large portion of the game’s sidequests and general aimless sandbox wandering behind me in a race to the finish — those of you who have finished it know it’s a long haul, and an emotional gauntlet on top of it....

At a OnePlus briefing days later, I got to use the remote, and it didn’t change my opinion. It was clunky and didn’t work half the time. Also, its buttons and functions were terribly confusing. The company said it’ll start shipping a new batch of TVs in India with new remotes and a dedicated Netflix app, which was missing in the previous batches. Hopefully, the remote performs better than the previous iteration....

— Alex Heath (@alexeheath) September 14, 2020 Oracle has now taken over Microsoft as favorites to buy short video app TikTok’s US operations. According to a report from Axios, while Oracle is the likely firm to get the deal, there’s a possibility of no deal taking place as well. South China Morning Post noted that due to China’s new regulations on the export of AI, Oracle might not get the app’s much-lauded recommendation algorithm, even if a deal is struck....

Welcome to the latest edition of Pardon The Intrusion, TNW’s bi-weekly newsletter in which we explore the wild world of security. Here’s a double dose of good news for those who value their personal device security. (So, hopefully everyone.) First off, Google has open-sourced its security key technology, allowing anyone to build their own hardware security key for the strongest level of two-factor authentication (2FA). Because, as we all know, SMS is no longer a secure means for 2FA....

This is a bit of a shame. I actually thought Google’s USB-C buds were quite good – certainly the best I’ve heard among bundled earbuds that aren’t meant to create an acoustic seal. Their omission is an especially odd choice considering you can’t even buy the new true wireless Pixel Buds until spring of 2020. You’ll have to wait a while if you want the full Google experience. You can definitely get better-sounding headphones for a similar price, but nothing I’m aware of with such deep Google Assistant integration....

The company is now rolling out a pair of Alexa commands that allows you to delete voice recordings without using its website. Here’s how to use them. Simply say, “Alexa, delete everything I said today,” to delete all the Alexa commands you issued today. To delete the last command, just say, “Alexa, delete what I just said.” While the second command is rolling out to the US-based consumers in the coming weeks, it’ll be available to users in other countries the next month....

In a time where everyone, including Qualcomm, is talking about 5G, the company opted to not integrate a 5G modem with the chip. However, the chip maker will force phone manufacturers to use its X55 5G modem, which pretty much forces manufacturers to pay more for a piece of tech that will be useless in many markets across the globe. So don’t be surprised if next year’s flagships are a tad more expensive....

Remember when companies used to have on-staff accountants? You know, the bean counters who used to crunch all the numbers, chase all the outstanding accounts, and make sure there was still enough cash at the end of the week to get everyone paid? Wasn’t that a great time? Today, there aren’t a lot of companies that can afford the luxury of a full-time accountant anymore. And it shows. Especially when more than eight out of every 10 businesses are failing due to poor cash flow management....

The attack follows on the heels of a ransomware attack last month on eResearchTechnology, a company that provides software used in clinical trials, including trials for COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines. Less than a week after the attack in Georgia was revealed, the FBI warned that cyber criminals have unleashed a wave of ransomware attacks targeting hospital information systems. Attacks like these underscore the challenges that cybersecurity experts face daily – and which loom over the upcoming election....

In those two sentences, Google tried to dismiss the omission of an ultrawide-angle lens while announcing the Pixel 4. Instead, the company just reminded everyone that when it comes to hardware, it’s often a generation or two behind. I like the Pixel 4 a lot, even though part of me wishes I didn’t. I still think Google has the best image processing on the market, by no small margin. I think Google’s photo software is intuitive, and the addition of dual exposure controls to control highlights and shadows separately is genius....

Research in human-vehicle interaction has shown time and again that even systems designed to automate driving — like adaptive cruise control, which maintains the vehicle at a certain speed and distance from the car ahead — are far from being error-proof. Recent evidence points to drivers’ limited understanding of what these systems can and cannot do (also known as mental models) as a contributing factor to system misuse. There are many issues troubling the world of self-driving cars including the less-than-perfect technology and lukewarm public acceptance of autonomous systems....

To that end, a report by Bloomberg sheds light on Apple’s potential plans. The company is gearing up to announce its next series of chips as early as spring, which will appear in new MacBook Pros and iMacs throughout 2021. Then, most notably, the company is alleged to be working on a chip with “as many as 32 high-performance cores,” which is planned for desktop computers in late 2021 and a “half-sized Mac Pro” planned to launch by 2022....

It’s as if the economy of scale has no ceiling, no curve, no saturation point, and all growth drives proportionate cost savings, operational efficiencies, and technological improvements. This, of course, is not true, and as many companies are finding out, things like research and development timelines, talent shortages, data storage costs, sales and support demands, and software expenses all conspire to cap growth and expansion, beyond which a company can no longer claim savings from scale....

ChurnBee, from the team behind Newscurve, has just launched in beta form, bringing a simple approach to understanding business and customer data for for SaaS (Software-as-a-Service)-focused startups. The software gives SaaS startups access to key business metrics like Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), Lifetime Value of a customer (LTV), churn, retention, and more. While it’s by no means the first to offer access to these sort of metrics, and the insights that come from them, ChurnBee is offering it in a far simpler package, by allowing users to select from pre-made ‘recipes’ that incorporate the key metrics in visually appealing, easily presentable and shareable ways....

Samsung then had to retrieve said units and make some fixes, delaying arguably the most anticipated phone of the year. Now it seems the phone is finally nearing a release date. As reported by The Korea Herald, Samsung Display VP Kim Seong-cheol said “most of the display problems have been ironed out, and the Galaxy Fold is ready to hit the market” while speaking at a display conference in Seoul....

Welcome to another edition of Bitcoin Today, where I, Satoshi Nakaboto, tell you what’s been going on with Bitcoin in the past 24 hours. As Baudriallard used to say: Bob’s your uncle! Bitcoin Price We closed the day, October 08 2019, at a price of $8,228. That’s a minor 0.21 percent decline in 24 hours, or -$18.06. It was the lowest closing price in one day. We’re still 59 percent below Bitcoin’s all-time high of $20,089 (December 17 2017)....

Welcome to another edition of Bitcoin Today, where I, Satoshi Nakaboto, tell you what’s been going on with Bitcoin in the past 24 hours. As Jane Didion used to say: Crack open this tasty lobster! Bitcoin Price We closed the day, December 16 2019, at a price of $6,932. That’s a notable 3.09 percent decline in 24 hours, or -$221.18. It was the lowest closing price in two hundred and nineteen days....

Welcome to another edition of Bitcoin Today, where I, Satoshi Nakaboto, tell you what’s been going on with Bitcoin in the past 24 hours. As Faraday used to say: Time is money! Bitcoin price We closed the day, August 25 2020, at a price of $11,366. That’s a notable 3.46 percent decline in 24 hours, or -$407.45. It was the lowest closing price in twenty days. We’re still 43 percent below Bitcoin’s all-time high of $20,089 (December 17 2017)....

Welcome to another edition of Bitcoin Today, where I, Satoshi Nakaboto, tell you what’s been going on with Bitcoin in the past 24 hours. As Plato used to say: Time to learn some stuff about Bitcoin! Bitcoin price We closed the day, September 22 2020, at a price of $10,538. That’s a minor 0.75 percent increase in 24 hours, or $78. It was the highest closing price in one day....