According to technologist and anthropologist Genevieve Bell, fifteen years is the maximum — or we’re entering the realm of science fiction. Genevieve is the kind of person you’d want to be stuck on a deserted island with. Not only is she a brilliant technologist with countless juicy anecdotes to share; she also knows how to detract water from frogs, an aboriginal survival skill she picked up as a child while living in central Australia with her anthropologist mother....

To measure your cardio health, the Cupertino-based company is using a measure called VO2 max that indicates the maximum volume of oxygen the body can use while exercising. VO2 max is measured in milliliters of oxygen the body can use per kilogram per minute. This is an indicative score for endurance — so you’d want to get a higher score. According to Apple, for male users aged 30-39 average score should be above 43, and for female users of the same age it should be above 30....

As some of you probably know, Google Drive and its accompanying suite of apps, like Docs and Sheets, went down for a while earlier today. Considering Google Drive has over one billion users, that’s a lot of people suddenly without access to their critical documents. While this particular outage appears to have been no big deal, and nothing of substance was lost, I would understand if you’re suddenly feeling paranoid for your Google Docs and Sheets and Slides and all the other things you’ve stored in Google Drive....

This week, we talked to Kathleen Barrett, Senior Vice President, Enterprise and Head of Creator Success at Vimeo, the world’s leading professional video platform. Barrett told us about the live sessions she’s been enjoying during the lockdown, as well as the books, movies, and TV series that have been comforting her during these unprecedented times. The sense of community of live sessions “Live as a format really works right now because it creates a sense of community and connectedness,” Barrett explained....

If you were asked to name the worst thing about the internet, you may select cyberbullying, hacking, or information warfare. You would be wrong. The worst thing about the internet is in-app browsers. These ghastly creatures emerge when you click on a link in countless apps. Instead of opening the page in your choice of external browser, they cruelly launch a built-in web view. These features are supposed to make browsing faster (and keep you trapped in the app for as long as possible....

This implies creativity is something you’re born with as opposed to something you can learn on the go. While this may be true to a degree, there’s absolutely nothing to stop you from taking inspiration and ideas and encouraging yourself and others to think outside the box — and let’s face it, being able to do so is often what spells the difference between survival mode and business success. [Read: Why your website’s lack of accessibility options is opening you up to lawsuits]...

But why would a picture be so convincing? What is it that we’d see that would tell us we weren’t just looking at another pile of rocks? An alien on a planet orbiting a distant star would be wildly exotic, perhaps unimaginably so. What, then, would give it away as life? The answer is relevant to our search for extraterrestrials, and what we might expect to find. Astrobiology – the study of life on other planets – has grown from a fringe sub-discipline of biology, chemistry, and astronomy to a leading interdisciplinary field, attracting researchers from top institutions across the globe, and large sums of money from both NASA and private funders....

Regini Rini, Philosopher But last month there was a furor around something altogether more serious. A system The Verge called, “an invention that could end up defining the decade to come.” Its name is GPT-3, and it could certainly make our future a lot more complicated. So, what is all the fuss about? And how might this supposed tectonic shift in technological development change the lives of the rest of us?...

Immersed in automation, many choices we make include some form of a computationally-modeled process. This transformation from manual to programmed behavior has started with the introduction of recommendation systems to find similar products according to users’ preferences. However, today’s AI systems go beyond imposing suggestions and know pretty well what we do and what we want. Using “persuasive computing” and “big nudging,” artificial intelligence and automation steer actions towards more acceptable behaviors, entailing a lack of confidence in a modern vision of digital cooperation....

Now in its fifth year, Call for Code is an annual challenge seeking solutions to the global climate crisis and other societal issues. This year’s focus will be on sustainability, and the teams whose projects earn the top spots will earn up to $200K and continuing support from IBM and its partners. This year’s challenge calls for solutions to the following sustainability issues: Build effective and efficient ways to quantifiably promote, preserve, and protect biodiversity Reduce global food insecurity through, as examples, improvements to distribution or sustainable farming practices Remove barriers to equal education access and job opportunities to further environmental justice Improve the ability to measure, analyze, or take decisive action on carbon emissions Improve access to affordable and reliable clean energy Improve supply chain transparency and traceability to bring fast and accurate visibility to sustainability issues where they arise Address issues of water scarcity and quality Reduce volume of and demand for materials that create the biggest waste footprint (plastics, electronics, food, textile), and encourage reuse/recycle opportunities...

Up front: Anyone still clinging to the notion that quantum circuits are too noisy for useful computing is about to be disillusioned. A decade ago, the idea of a working quantum computing system seemed far-fetched to most of us. Today, researchers around the world connect to IBM’s cloud-based quantum systems with such frequency that, according to IBM’s director of quantum infrastructure, some three billion quantum circuits are completed every day....

In overturning Roe, the anticipated decision would not merely deprive women of reproductive control and physical agency as a matter of constitutional law, but it would also change their relationship with the online world. Anyone in a state where abortion becomes illegal who relies on the internet for information, products, and services related to reproductive health would be subject to online policing. As a researcher who studies online privacy, I’ve known for some time how Google, social media, and internet data generally can be used for surveillance by law enforcement to cast digital dragnets....

The firm then told reporters it sees “increasing opportunities” surrounding digital assets, both asset-backed and native security tokens. ING noted a focus on providing a compliant way to access the sector. Reuters’ sources said that the custody project is operating out of its Amsterdam offices, but that it’s still in its early stages. The bank reportedly also has several other blockchain initiatives. Keeping cryptocurrency safe has become a business in itself....

Now you can add a captions sticker in Stories (coming soon to Reels) that automatically turns what you say into text. We’re starting in a handful of countries and hope to expand soon. pic.twitter.com/OAJjmFcx4R — Instagram (@instagram) May 4, 2021 Although captions were already available in the IGTV app, bringing them to Instagram proper adds a welcome layer of accessibility for those who can’t or don’t want to listen to Stories....

Among many other changes that rolled out with iOS 14, Apple added a few quality of life updates to its Messages. Here’s how to use them for yourself. Apple’s Messages app is still a pretty straightforward messaging app. While the company’s made efforts to add bells and whistles over the years, its most useful updates are the practical ones — and the ones it added in iOS are more or less just practical....

I have no concrete information to disprove these leaks. But as much as I’d love for them to be true, the idea that Apple would get rid of the notch now just strikes me as really odd. The reason is simple: with so many phones sporting nary indistinguishable designs and most people keeping their phones in cases, the notch is one of the few ways Apple manages to differentiate itself from the competition....

On Friday, US Democratic lawmakers proposed a new bill increasing the current $7,500 tax creditfor electric vehicles. And while this seems like a very promising step, in reality the credit expansion favors only particular automakers. The base amount remains unchanged at $4,000, with an extra $3,500 if the EV battery has a minimum of 40kWh — totalling the present 7,500 dollar grants. The bill now suggests that consumers can claim an added $4,500 for vehicles assembled at a domestic unionized plant....

Lara Sweet, Snap Inc’s chief people officer, is well-versed in the world of business. Having spent the past four years at Snap — where she was promoted to her current role in May 2019 — and over six years at AOL, Sweet is all too familiar with the challenges associated with running an international company. But the past few months have, understandably, been different. The coronavirus pandemic has turned the world upside down, with businesses — those which have so far survived — having to adapt at record speed; many with fewer resources than Snap....

It’s amazing how many enterprises are still just going through the motions of “digital transformation.” Today’s customers, whether they’re buying T-shirts for themselves or turbines for factories, expect you to offer them seamless, cross-channel, self-service, on-demand purchase experiences backed by smart automation and concierge human support. If your team isn’t living and breathing digital by now, then it might be too late. The laggards are understandable to an extent, since many onboarded new cloud-based systems, without any strategic plan in place, simply to support remote work because they had to when offices closed because of the pandemic last spring....

While Hotstar didn’t air Oliver’s critical episode on India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it made edits to few other episodes containing references to drugs and sex that might reflect ‘poorly’ on Disney. In an episode aired last night, he pointed out at least two instances of censorship. [Read: India will finally allow inflight Wi-Fi after all these years] A clause in the code prohibits the signatories from hosting the content which “promotes and encourages disrespect to the sovereignty and integrity of India....