A friend of mine is filled with ideas, and every time I meet him, he’s always got a crazy new pitch. I love those conversations because his passion and out-of-the-box thinking always make me eager to discuss it and think about how it could be done. He recently told me I’m one of the few people who’s always supportive, no matter how crazy his ideas seem. When he pitches his crazy ideas to others, most people start looking for holes in his theory or find reasons why it’s unrealistic or just stupid....

As of May 2021, 38 battery cell gigafactories are being built or planned in Europe and the UK, according to the latest report by the non-governmental organization Transport & Environment. Out of the 38 projects, 17 have secured funding so far, estimated to be up to $30 billion between them. The amount consists of both private and public funding, including, for instance, Tesla’s gigafactory in Berlin, which received $1.4 billion in German federal and state support....

As the war has evolved, it’s clear that analysts on both sides of the debate got it wrong. Cyber operations did not replace the military invasion, and as far as we can tell, the Russian government has not yet used cyber operations as an integral part of its military campaign. We are political scientists who study the role of cybersecurity and information in international conflict. Our research shows that the reason pundits on both sides of the argument got it wrong is because they failed to consider that cyber and military operations serve different political objectives....

Facebook’s issuing apologies for its AI’s bigotry again. This time, users watching a video of a Black man were asked it they were interested in more content on “primates.” The company, by way of apology, said: Up front: This is nowhere near the first time Facebook’s had a problem with its AI’s bigotry. Whether it’s hiring algorithms that are flat out misogynistic, translation errors that result in wrongful imprisonment, or its blanket discrimination against queer people, Facebook’s AI is broken for everyone except straight white men....

The Business Page, titled “Samantha Rae Anna Jespersen’s Butthole” appears to have been auto-generated in 2012. It’s unclear exactly what the criteria is for these Pages, but it’s likely the Page was created when someone abused the “check-in” feature of the platform. Credit: Buzzfeed The Page itself had the following statement before Facebook removed it: This is a typical business Page with a map to the “business” and the ability to “recommend” it to other people on Facebook....

— Facebook (@Facebook) May 19, 2020 CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the new feature during a livestream. A Shop would function on a business’s page or profile, from which a customer could browse their collection of goods. A business could, in theory, have their whole shopping mechanism on Facebook. Shops will be supported by third-party software like Shopify and BigCommerce, and businesses will also be able to implement customer loyalty programs in the future....

It’s called the Libra Investment Token, and it will only be available to members of the Libra Association (which maintains the network) and other accredited investors. Money raised by selling the Libra Investment Token is said to be placed in low-risk assets, and revenue generated is to go towards supporting operating expenses of the Libra Association itself and other development costs, including grants to non-profits. Once those are paid for, some of the remaining returns will be distributed to Libra Association members in the form of dividends....

Up front: Evolution brings an all-new campaign featuring over 20 missions, a new Lizardfolk hero for this DLC and an alternate hunter version of Falirson for the main campaign, and an entirely new campaign map called the Archipelago. It also brings new items, unit types, and enemies. Background: Fantasy General II is a modern re-imagining of the classic tactical combat game. And, if you ask me, it’s the best of both worlds....

The devices belong to the gunman in last month’s naval base shooting in Pensacola, Florida. The shooter, Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani of the Saudi Royal Air Force, gunned down three servicemen in the attack: Ensign Joshua Watson, 23; Airman Mohammed Haitham, 19; and Airman Apprentice Cameron Walters, 21. Alshamrani was killed at the scene. Dana Boente, FBI general counsel, said that federal investigators were so far unable to access Alshamrani’s two iPhones because each was locked and encrypted....

Track This lets you choose from four profiles: Hypebeast, Filthy Rich, Doomsday, or Influencer. Once you choose a profile, click on ‘Track This,’ and the tool will open 100 tabs on your browser. For example, when I chose the ‘Filthy Rich’ profile, the tool opened up websites related to properties, luxury credit cards, and trading. The idea behind this tool called Track This is to feed bogus data to advertisers, making them think you’re interested in a specific thing....

According to Reuters, Libra could pose risks to consumers, financial stability and even “the sovereignty of European states,” Le Maire said. His latest comments come just one day after he said France would block Libra’s development because it posed a threat to the “monetary sovereignty” of governments. As previously reported by Hard Fork, Le Maire said Libra posed systemic financial risks, risks for sovereignty, and the potential for abuse of market dominance associated with Facebook’s cryptocurrency....

One of the most disappointing (and yet still fun) reveals is probably LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. As the name implies, it’ll cover all nine of the main Star Wars films, and it’s coming out for the Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. However, it’s been delayed until Spring 2021 — it was originally expected to be released sometime this year. That said, I’ll still be happy to play it when it does come around — it’s a LEGO game, so it’s always a fun way to spend time....

RIAA argued that the YouTube-dl repository used technology violated section 1201 of copyright laws to obtain licensed content illegally. The notice also said that the tool’s developers used copyrighted songs from artists such as Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, and Charlie XCX as examples of content users can download. It also cited a ruling from a German court that favors the takedown. Then there’s the other side of the argument from developers and activists saying the tool was meant to download videos from the government and other resources could use under creatives common licensing....

The investment bank, which manages some $1.8 trillion in assets, said it expects iPhone shipments to slow by 36% during the third quarter of this year. [Read: Apple’s new $399 iPhone SE couldn’t have come at a worse time] Finance portal MarketWatch reported Goldman had revised its target for Apple stock to $233, down from $250, and nearly 20% below current prices. $AAPL fell slightly at Friday’s market open, down more than 2% at pixel time....

For people using Android Messages — the texting app included with Pixel phones and a few other devices approximating ‘stock’ Android — Google will now let you schedule messages to send at specific times. It can be use for reminding a friend about something important, wishing someone a happy birthday very punctually, or organizing events. Google itself gives the example of texting a friend in another time zone; this way you can schedule a message to go out when they’re not sleeping....

Performance improvements First up, the company says it’s sped up tab loading in the app by 10 percent, along with other improvements. The browser should be 7.3% more responsive on Windows and 3.9% on Mac, load content 3.5% and 2.3% faster, and generally run websites 11.4% and 7.7% faster than previous versions of Chrome. Perhaps more importantly Google is also introducing tab throttling to the beta version of Chrome. That means that tabs in the background will take up less of your CPU’s resources, improving both the speed on the tabs you’re actually using, as well as battery life all over....

— Made by Google (@madebygoogle) June 12, 2019 This confirms the leak posted by OnLeaks a few days ago that showed off the phone via rendered images. While this is an unprecedented move by Google, it might be to avoid further leaks and rumors before the release of the phone. We can’t wait to see what the phone can do.

With this feature, you’ll be able to load your card in the Google Pay app and pay for stuff online and offline (via NFC on Android). With this, you won’t need to provide your actual debit card number or a physical card. The company claims this method is more secure than using your card. Over the next few weeks, the tokenized card will be available to users holding a Visa card issued by HDFC, Axis, Kotak, and Standard Chartered bank....

The search giant first launched the app on Android in 2018. Google Podcasts supported playback on the web back then, but the company launched a proper website for it just last month. The new iOS app is the last piece of the puzzle. Getting around the app is quite easy, so I won’t bore you with a walkthrough of all the buttons and tabs in there. I especially like how Google Podcasts focuses on episodes you can dive into right away, rather than pushing you to subscribe to shows and then leaving you to figure out what to listen to....

Most of the cash came from external investors, it’s also worth noting this is the first time the company has welcomed external investment. Investors included VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, auto part maker Magna, and American auto retailer AutoNation. Google’s parent company Alphabet also injected more cash into the project, New York Times reports. [Read: The 6 levels of autonomous driving, explained as fast as possible] According to Waymo CEO John Krafcik, the cash will be used to further develop Waymo’s team, technologies, and products....