A ‘Terminator’ Anime Series is Coming to Netflix

Variety magazine reports that Netflix has ordered Terminator anime series: “‘Terminator’ is one of the most iconic sci-fi stories ever created — and has only grown more relevant to our world over time,” said John Derderian, Netflix’s vice president of Japan and anime. “The new animated series will explore this universe in a way that has never been done before. We…

The Impractical but Indisputable Rise of Retrocomputing

For all the personal technology introduced and popularized in 2020 — upscale fitness bikes, at-home Covid tests, game consoles new and old — the personal computer lands on the list with a bit of a thud. PCs lack the novelty of other gadgets, but they’re practical, essential even, in a year when work, school and social life have come to rely…

How the Comics Industry Avoided a 2020 Implosion

While publishers and stores feared COVID-19 would be an extinction-level threat, the industry has proved more resilient than thought. From a report: In March, when COVID-19 hit the comic industry in earnest, many retailers and publishers feared it would be an apocalyptic event for the business. Stay-at-home orders shuttered stores, and shipments of new product ceased for several months when Diamond…

Research reveals an enormous planet quickly orbiting a tiny, dying star

Thanks to a bevy of telescopes in space and on Earth—and even a pair of amateur astronomers in Arizona—a University of Wisconsin-Madison astronomer and his colleagues have discovered a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting at breakneck speed around a distant white dwarf star. The system, about 80 light years away, violates all common conventions about stars and planets. The white dwarf is the…

DNC, RNC To Test Limits of Virtual Events as Election Enters Final Stage

The Democratic and Republican nominating conventions, long mainstays of the US presidential election cycle, have been forced online, creating the biggest test yet for conducting life remotely during the coronavirus. From a report: Robbed of the energy of convention halls, the parties will seek to re-create that enthusiasm in high-production streaming events that beam their luminaries from around the country to…

YouTube Bans Videos Containing Hacked Information That Could Interfere With the Election

As Democrats and Republicans prepare to hold their national conventions starting next week, YouTube on Thursday announced updates to its policies on deceptive videos and other content designed to interfere with the election. From a report: The world’s largest video platform, with more than 2 billion users a month, will ban videos containing information that was obtained through hacking and could…

Silicon Valley Game-Plans For a Messy Election Night

Google, Facebook, Twitter and other major social media companies are working together to scenario-plan for the last three months before Election Day in the United States — including gaming out what to do if there’s no quickly declared winner in the contest between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden on election night. From a report: The close collaboration…

Some States Have Embraced Online Voting. It’s a Huge Risk.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Politico: On Sunday, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Michigan revealed numerous security flaws in the product that West Virginia and Delaware are using, saying it “represents a severe risk to election security and could allow attackers to alter election results without detection.” In fact, it may be a…