The first comet to be found in 2021 – labeled C/2021 A1 (Leonard) – might become the brightest comet of this year! Charts and more info here. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/bright-comet-c-2021-a1-leonard-2021-2022…
Tag: post
WhatsApp Clarifies It’s Not Giving All Your Data To Facebook
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: WhatsApp has published a new FAQ page to its website outlining its stances on user privacy in response to widespread backlash over an upcoming privacy policy update. The core issue relates to WhatsApp’s data-sharing procedures with Facebook, with many users concerned an updated privacy policy going into effect on February 8th will…
Tonight is New Year’s Eve in the Julian calendar
Happy Julian New Year! January 13, 2021, marks the last day of the year in the old-style Julian calendar. Why, and what happened when the calendars switched. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/julian-calendar-new-years-eve…
Telegram Adds 25 Million New Users In Just 72 Hours
According to founder and CEO Pavel Durov, Telegram gained 25 million new users in the last 72 hours as it smashed past the 500 million active monthly user mark. Android Police reports: For comparison, the app averaged around 1.5 million new users per day in 2020, which was impressive enough already. Durvov says that this is down to his company’s simple…
Warnings of huge new spike in US covid-19 cases as UK variant spreads
The faster spreading coronavirus variant has officially reached nine US states and could soon cause a massive surge in covid-19 cases that makes the post-holiday spike look minimal, expert warns Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2264672-warnings-of-huge-new-spike-in-us-covid-19-cases-as-uk-variant-spreads/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Researchers Test UN’s Cybersecurity, Find Personal Data On 100K Employees
chicksdaddy shares a report from The Security Ledger: Independent security researchers testing the security of the United Nations were able to compromise public-facing servers and a cloud-based GitHub development account used by the U.N. and lift data on more than 100,000 staff and employees, according to a report by The Security Ledger. Researchers affiliated with Sakura Samurai, a newly formed collective…
How Will America’s Investigators Identify Capitol Hill Protesters?
“Both local police and the FBI are seeking information about individuals who were ‘actively instigating violence’ in Washington, DC, on January 6,” writes Ars Technica. Then they speculate on which tools will be used to find them:
While media organizations took thousands of photos police can use, they also have more advanced technologies at their disposal to identify participants, following what several…
Google Ad Changes Face UK Probe in First Shot at Big Tech
Google is the U.K.’s first big post-Brexit antitrust target as regulators opened a probe into the company’s planned changes to curb publishers’ collection of advertising data. From a report: The Competition and Markets Authority said it’s investigating Google’s so-called privacy sandbox changes that could “undermine the ability of publishers to generate revenue and undermine competition in digital advertising, entrenching Google’s market…
Planetary trio – Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury – low in west at dusk
For the first time since October 2015, sky watchers will have the chance to view a planetary trio, or 3 planets all bunched up together on the sky’s dome. Two are Jupiter and Saturn, fresh from their much-viewed December conjunction. The 3rd planet is elusive Mercury. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/planetary-trio-low-in-west-at-dusk…
Facebook Removes ‘Likes’ From Public Pages
Facebook has dropped the “likes” tally from public pages used by artists, public officials and brands as part of a new redesign. The New York Post reports: Those pages will now only show follower count, which Facebook says is intended to make things simpler. “Unlike Likes, Followers of a Page represent the people who can receive updates from Pages, which helps…