Evading Censors, Chinese Users Flock To U.S. Chat App Clubhouse

“The U.S. app Clubhouse erupted among Chinese social-media users over the weekend,” reports Bloomberg, “with thousands joining discussions on contentious subjects…undisturbed by Beijing’s censors.” On the invite-only, audio-based social app where users host informal conversations, Chinese-speaking communities from around the world gathered to discuss China-Taiwan relations and the prospects of unification, and to share their knowledge and experience of Beijing’s crackdown…

Despite Funny Name Ideas, US Space Force Has a Serious Mission

Friday the U.S. military released 400 other names it considered for Space Force’s soliders (before settling on the word “guardians.”) Politico writes that the names were “crowdsourced” from the U.S. military’s space workforce, and “Troops clearly had fun with their submissions, which included Space Cadet, Spacies, Anti-Gravity Gang, Homo Spaciens and Spacefolk.” But the Space Force had more science fiction-inspired names…

SoundCloud To Let Fans Pay Artists Directly

According to Billboard, SoundCloud is preparing to introduce a new payment system that would allow fans to pay artists directly. From the report: The move would make SoundCloud the first major music streaming service to embrace a direct payment model, a strategy that has been popular with Chinese streaming services like Tencent Music’s QQ Music for years, and one that subscription…

Pandemic Drove Sales of 4G and 5G-Enabled PCs To New Record In 2020

Global sales of cellular-enabled mobile PCs reached more than 10 million units for the first time in 2020 as home workers sought improved connectivity in response to the closure of office facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research firm Strategy Analytics: According to the latest analysis from Strategy Analytics’ Connected Computing Devices program, global shipments increased by 70% to 10.1 million, the…

23andMe Is Going Public As It Pushes Further Into Healthcare

23andMe is becoming a publicly-traded company through a merger with Virgin’s VG Acquisition. Engadget reports: The deal values 23andMe at about $3.5 billion and should give the company the finances it wants to boost its personal healthcare and therapeutics plans. It should have over $900 million in cash, for instance. The merger is expected to close in the second quarter of…

Coursera Receives B Corp™ Certification

By Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO Coursera Today, we are proud to announce that Coursera has received B Corp certification from B Lab, an independent non-profit organization, for meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. We have also converted to a Public Benefit Corporation. Now we have a legal duty not only to […]
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Is Misinformation on Nextdoor Impacting Local Politics?

Was Nextdoor’s impact on the world exemplified by a crucial funding referendum for the Christina School District of Newark, Delaware? Medium’s tech site OneZero reports: As the 2019 referendum approached, I saw Nextdoor posts claiming that the district was squandering money, that its administrators were corrupt, and that it already spent more money per student than certain other districts with higher…

Could game theory help discover intelligent alien life?

New research from the University of Manchester suggests using a strategy linked to cooperative game playing known as ‘game theory’ in order to maximize the potential of finding intelligent alien life. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-game-theory-intelligent-alien-life.html…

AMC Spikes 260% as Day Traders Ignite Shorted Stocks like GameStop, BlackBerry, and Bed Bath & Beyond

AMC shares skyrocketed as much as 260% in premarket trading on Wednesday as day traders piled into heavily shorted stocks for a third consecutive day. From a report: Frenzied buying also drove GameStop shares up as much as 147%, BlackBerry up 31%, and Bed Bath & Beyond up 27%. Amateur investors have gathered, most notably on Reddit forum r/wallstreet bets, to…

Ransomware Attackers Try Publishing 4,000 Scottish Government Agency Files

Threatpost reports:
On the heels of a ransomware attack against the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), attackers have now reportedly published more than 4,000 files stolen from the agency — including contracts and strategy documents. After hitting SEPA on Christmas Eve with the attack, cybercriminals encrypted 1.2GB of information. The attack has affected SEPA’s email systems, which remain offline as of Thursday,…