Start-up founder Mary-Brenda shares how learning can empower you to discover a world without limits

Meet Mary-Brenda! She is an entrepreneur and founder of a social impact start-up focused on expanding access to affordable, clean energy throughout Nigeria. She is also a lifelong learner with ambitious academic goals and a thirst for new skills and knowledge that she can apply to make a positive impact in the world. She ultimately […]
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Who’s Actually To Blame For the Texas Power Disaster?

With millions of Texans still without power in the wake of a winter storm and frigid temperatures, everyone is looking for someone to blame. From a report, shared by a reader: Many Democrats are blaming Gov. Greg Abbott (R) for failing to adequately prepare for the storm. Many conservatives are blaming the environmental movement — insisting that frozen wind turbines show…

Two Google Engineers Resign Over Firing of AI Ethics Researcher Timnit Gebru

An engineering director and a software developer have quit Alphabet’s Google over the dismissal of AI researcher Timnit Gebru, a sign of the ongoing conflicts at the search giant over diversity and ethics. From a report: David Baker, a director focused on user safety, left Google last month after 16 years because Gebru’s exit “extinguished my desire to continue as a…

ProtonMail, Threema, Tresorit and Tutanota Warn EU Lawmakers Over ‘Anti-Encryption’ Push

Four European apps which secure user data via end-to-end encryption, ProtonMail, Threema, Tresorit and Tutanota, have issued a joint-statement warning over recent moves by EU institutions that they say are setting lawmakers on a dangerous path to backdooring encryption. From a report: Last month the EU Council passed a resolution on encryption that’s riven with contradiction — calling for “security through…

‘We Messed Up’. Microsoft Rescinds Xbox Live Gold Price Hike

“We messed up today,” the Xbox Live Gold team wrote late Friday night, “and you were right to let us know.” Their blog post’s new title? “No Changes to Xbox Live Gold Pricing, Free-to-Play Games to be Unlocked.” Forbes reports: It has been a very strange few days for Microsoft and Xbox fans. On Friday, Microsoft announced that for effectively no…

Many Formerly-Skeptical Americans are Now Eager to Get Covid-19 Vaccines

The New York Times reports:
Ever since the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine began last spring, upbeat announcements were stalked by ominous polls: No matter how encouraging the news, growing numbers of people said they would refuse to get the shot… But over the past few weeks, as the vaccine went from a hypothetical to a reality, something happened. Fresh surveys…

Open Source Developers Say Securing Their Code Is ‘Insufferably Boring’ and ‘Soul-Withering’

“A new survey of the free and open-source software (FOSS) community conducted by the Linux Foundation suggests that contributors spend less than 3% of their time on security issues and have little desire to increase this,” reports TechRepublic: Moreover, responses indicated that many respondents had little interest in increasing time and effort on security. One respondent commented that they “find the…

Is Warner Bros’ Shift To Streaming New Movies ‘A Great Danger’?

Christopher Nolan isn’t too happy with Warner Bros’ decision to send all 17 of its films slated for release in 2021 to HBO Max on the same day they’re released. Nolan, whose blockbuster movies for Warner Bros have made billions, called HBO Max “the worst streaming service,” adding that this shift in Hollywood is “a sign of great danger for the…

Will Businesses Make 2021 The Year of the Linux Desktop?

Writing for TechRepublic, open source advocate Jack Wallen predicts 2021 will be a year where open source technology dominates the world of big data even more than 2021 (with a big role predicted for SUSE). But he also sees businesses cutting costs by switching to open source solutions — including a big move to Linux on enterprise desktops, thanks to enterprise-ready…

How to land a good letter of recommendation: Advice from an admissions expert

by Mary Beth Carroll, Assistant Director of Student Affairs in the Office of Student Engagement and Practice at the University of Michigan School of Public Health Most graduate school applications require two to three letters of recommendation, which provide another dimension to your application and, when viewed alongside other factors such as your GPA, professional experience and […]
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