Why Google’s Internet Balloon Project Loon Failed

Alphabet announced last month that it was winding down Loon, a nine-year-old project and a two-and-a-half-year-old spin off firm, after failing to find a sustainable business model and partners for one of its most prominent moonshot projects. Business Insider shares more details on why the project failed. From the report, which may be paywalled: CEO Alastair Wingarth told The New York…

Facebook Busts Russian Disinfo Networks As US Election Looms

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Facebook announced on Thursday that it has taken down three “coordinated inauthentic behavior” networks promoting disinformation that included nearly 300 Facebook and Instagram accounts along with dozens of Facebook Pages and Groups. While the efforts were seemingly run independently, and focused primarily outside of the US, each has ties to Russian intelligence –…

As the climate shifts, a border moves

Italy’s northern border with Switzerland depends on the natural, morphological boundaries of glaciers’ frontiers. But in recent years, glaciers have been melting at increased rates due to climate change. This has caused the border to shift noticeably. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/climate-warming-glacier-italian-swiss-austrian-border-moves…

What’s new on Coursera for Business – March 2020

By Kyle Clark, Senior Skills Transformation Consultant As our Chief Enterprise Officer Leah Belsky wrote to many of our customers last week, the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) has profoundly affected our work – and our lives. At Coursera, we’re grateful for the opportunity we have to continue to serve businesses, universities, and governments during this […]
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Microsoft Warns of Political Cyberattacks, Announces Free Vote-Verification Software

“Microsoft on Wednesday announced that it would give away software designed to improve the security of American voting machines,” reports NBC News. Microsoft also said its AccountGuard service has already spotted 781 cyberattacks by foreign adversaries targeting political organizations — 95% of which were located in the U.S. The company said it was rolling out the free, open-source software product called…