Was GameStop’s Rise Actually Orchestrated By Hedge Funds?

Robert J. Shapiro advised senior members of the Obama administration on economic policy, and served as an Under Secretary of Commerce under Bill Clinton. Now a senior fellow at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown, he’s suspicious of the surge in GameStop’s stock price:
Allegedly, this is the tale of scrappy, small online day traders buying shares of a beleaguered company…

Despite Funny Name Ideas, US Space Force Has a Serious Mission

Friday the U.S. military released 400 other names it considered for Space Force’s soliders (before settling on the word “guardians.”) Politico writes that the names were “crowdsourced” from the U.S. military’s space workforce, and “Troops clearly had fun with their submissions, which included Space Cadet, Spacies, Anti-Gravity Gang, Homo Spaciens and Spacefolk.” But the Space Force had more science fiction-inspired names…

Chinese Probe Sends Back Its First Picture of Mars

Launched in July, China’s probe “Tianwen-1” is now approaching an orbit around Mars — and it’s sent back its first picture. Slashdot reader AmiMoJo spotted this report in the Guardian: The photo released by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) shows geological features including the Schiaparelli crater and the Valles Marineris, a vast stretch of canyons on the Martian surface. The…

NASA creates new senior climate advisor role

NASA announced Wednesday it was creating a new position of senior climate advisor as part of the administration of President Joe Biden’s climate science objectives for the agency. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-nasa-senior-climate-advisor-role.html…

Tesla Recalls Roughly 135,000 Vehicles Over Touchscreen Failures

After being asked by the NHTSA, Tesla is recalling 135,000 Model S and Model X vehicles because their large center touchscreens can fail. “The recall applies to some 2012 through 2018 Model S and 2016 through 2018 Model X vehicles,” notes CNN. From the report: Under the recall, which will begin on March 30, Tesla must notify owners of cars with…

Xiaomi Sues US Seeking To Reverse Investment Ban

AmiMoJo shares a report: Xiaomi has sued the U.S. Defense and Treasury departments, challenging a blacklisting that blocks American investors from buying the Chinese smartphone giant’s securities. The lawsuit came after the Defense Department determined earlier this month that China’s biggest smartphone maker was affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army. Beijing-based Xiaomi called the blacklisting “unconstitutional” and seeks a court ruling…

Are the US Military’s GPS Tests Threatening Airline Safety?

Long-time Slashdot reader cusco quotes a new report from IEEE Spectrum: In August 2018, a passenger aircraft in Idaho, flying in smoky conditions, reportedly suffered GPS interference from military tests and was saved from crashing into a mountain only by the last-minute intervention of an air traffic controller. “Loss of life can happen because air traffic control and a flight crew…

The US Government’s Entire 645,000-Vehicle Fleet Will Go All-Electric

Jalopnik reports:
The United States government operates a fleet of about 645,000 vehicles, from mail delivery trucks to military vehicles and passenger cars. On Monday, President Joe Biden announced that his administration intends to replace them all with American-made, electric alternatives… In 2015, the government operated 357,610 gasoline vehicles and 3,896 electric ones; in 2019, those numbers grew to 368,807 and 4,475,…

Does Facebook Have a Joe Biden Problem?

Last week the Democratic party took control of all three branches of the U.S. government — and the BBC’s North America technology reporter notes they dislike Facebook even more now than during the Cambridge Analytica scandal: Since then, Democrats — Joe Biden included — have been appalled by what Facebook has allowed on its platform. Talking to a CNN anchor in…

Opinion: Biden administration must act fast to save migratory birds

On Trump’s way out of the White House, his administration demolished a law that protects migratory birds, putting over 1,000 species at risk. The Biden administration can still salvage it, but only if they act swiftly. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/biden-administration-migratory-bird-treaty-act…