Some Aspects of Memory Get Better As We Age

An anonymous reader shares an opinion piece for The New York Times, written by neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin: Short-term memory contains the contents of your thoughts right now, including what you intend to do in the next few seconds. It’s doing some mental arithmetic, thinking about what you’ll say next in a conversation or walking to the hall closet with the…

Verizon Will Finally Sell You TV Without a Contract

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: Verizon is changing the way it sells its internet and cable packages as customers are increasingly seeking ways to cut the costly cord. The company is eliminating bundles and contracts, Verizon announced Thursday. Instead, it will sell its Fios TV and internet services separately. Long-term contracts are also being trashed in favor of…

What’s new on Coursera for Business – December 2019

By Kyle Clark, Senior Skills Transformation Consultant Coursera’s university and industry partners launched over 50 courses in December to round out 2019. Our new courses range in topic from the data-heavy – including new AI, cloud, and analytics courses – to cultural intelligence, public health, security management, and business English. Here are our top picks […]
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Trump Signs Traced Act Into Law in Bid To Help Put an End To Robocalls

The fight against annoying robocalls just got another boost. This week President Trump signed the Traced Act into law, giving government agencies and law enforcement officials more weapons to go after individuals and companies who break telephone consumer-protection laws. From a report: The bi-partisan legislation was previously approved by the House and Senate, respectively, earlier this month before arriving on the…

A Data Leak Exposed the Personal Info of Over 3,000 Ring Users

The log-in credentials for 3,672 Ring camera owners were compromised this week, exposing log-in emails, passwords, time zones, and the names people give to specific Ring cameras, which are often the same as camera locations, such as “bedroom” or “front door.” BuzzFeed News reports: Using the log-in email and password, an intruder could access a Ring customer’s home address, telephone number,…

New names for 112 exoplanets and their stars

Hundreds of thousands of people from 112 countries helped select names for distant exoplanets and their stars. So, for example, the exoplanet formerly known as HAT-P-36b – about 1,000 light-years away – now also carries the name Bran, from an Irish legend. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/new-exoplanet-names-dec2019…

Huawei Is Now Making Smartphones Without American Chips

“American tech companies are getting the go-ahead to resume business with Chinese smartphone giant Huawei Technologies Co., but it may be too late,” reports the Wall Street Journal. Huawei is just building its smartphones without U.S. chips.
Huawei’s latest phone, which it unveiled in September — the Mate 30 with a curved display, telephone and wide-angle cameras that competes with Apple Inc.’s…

Trend Micro Security Incident Involving Selling Customer Data Was an Inside Job

Mark Wilson shares a report from BetaNews: Security firm Trend Micro has revealed details of an inside scam which led to personal details of its customers being exposed. The security incident dates back to August this year, and the company says that it was made aware of customers being contacted by fake Trend Micro support staff. Following an investigation lasting until…

FBI’s Use of Surveillance Database Violated Americans’ Privacy Rights: Court

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Wall Street Journal: Some of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s electronic surveillance activities violated the constitutional privacy rights of Americans swept up in a controversial foreign intelligence program (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source), a secretive surveillance court has ruled. The ruling deals a rare rebuke to U.S. spying activities that have generally withstood…

Samsung Ends Mobile Phone Production In China

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Samsung has ended mobile telephone production in China, it said on Wednesday, hurt by intensifying competition from domestic rivals in the world’s biggest smartphone market. The shutdown of Samsung’s last China phone factory comes after it cut production at the plant in the southern city of Huizhou in June and suspended another factory…