An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: /e/ OS, the “open-source, pro-privacy, and fully degoogled” fork of Android, is coming to Canada and the USA. Of course, you’ve always been able to download the software in any region, but now (as first spotted by It’s Foss News) the e Foundation will start selling preloaded phones in North America. Previously,…
Tag: public
How Microsoft Plans To Give Virtual Reality Apps a Big Boost
The market for virtual and augmented reality products has developed slower than expected, but Microsoft is seeking to accelerate the sector by making it much easier for people to connect from different locations and with different kinds of devices. From a report: The ultimate goal of the new effort, dubbed Microsoft Mesh, is to allow, for example, a person in an…
Microsoft’s Dream of Decentralized IDs Enters the Real World
For years, tech companies have touted blockchain technology as a means to develop identity systems that are secure and decentralized. The goal is to build a platform that could store information about official data without holding the actual documents or details themselves. Instead of just storing a scan of your birth certificate, for example, a decentralized ID platform might store a…
NASA selects 16 futuristic space technology concepts
NASA has selected 16 cool new futuristic space technology concepts for further study. Four of them are from NASA’s own Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), including a railway system on the moon to move cargo. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/futuristic-space-technology-concepts-nasa-jpl-niac…
America Authorizes Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 Vaccine For Emergency Use
America’s Food and Drug Administration just authorized Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, according to CBS News. “The vaccine is the third to be approved for use in the United States, and the first that requires only one shot…” Among people who got the vaccine in clinical trials, there were no COVID-related deaths. Phase 3 clinical trials also showed…
SolarWinds’ Former CEO Blames Intern for ‘solarwinds123’ Password Leak
“Current and former top executives at SolarWinds are blaming a company intern for a critical lapse in password security that apparently went undiagnosed for years,” reports CNN. The password in question, “solarwinds123,” was discovered in 2019 on the public internet by an independent security researcher who warned the company that the leak had exposed a SolarWinds file server… It is still…
Is the Net Neutrality Debate a Pointless Distraction?
“People may scream at me for saying this, but net neutrality is one of America’s longest and now most pointless fights over technology.” So argues the New York Times “On Tech” newsletter author Shira Ovide, calling the debate “a distraction for our elected leaders and corporations when there are more pressing issues.” Ovide also shares their discussion with Times technology and…
Did you find the message hidden in Perseverance’s parachute?
The striped pattern on the parachute used by the Perseverance rover to land on Mars contained a hidden message. Internet sleuths were able to figure it out within a few hours. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/perseverance-secret-message-dare-mighty-things…
FBI Confirms Report of ‘Long, Cylindrical’ UFO ‘Moving Really Fast’ Over New Mex
An anonymous reader shares a PopularMechanics report: An American Airlines flight crew encountered an unidentified flying object over New Mexico on February 21. American Airlines has confirmed the strange incident, during which a “long, cylindrical object that almost looked like a cruise missile” zipped over the Airbus A320, according to a pilot’s transmission obtained by The War Zone. American Airlines Flight…
Why an Animated Flying Cat With a Pop-Tart Body Sold for Almost $600,000
In the 10 years since Chris Torres created Nyan Cat, an animated flying cat with a Pop-Tart body leaving a rainbow trail, the meme has been viewed and shared across the web hundreds of millions of times. On Thursday, he put a one-of-a-kind version of it up for sale on Foundation, a website for buying and selling digital goods. In the…