The Defense Department’s watchdog found no evidence that the Pentagon’s controversial decision to award a $10 billion cloud-computing contract to Microsoft was the result of interference from President Donald Trump, though it said its probe was limited by the White House. From a report: The 317-page report issued Wednesday by the inspector general also found that giving the JEDI contract to…
Tag: win
NASA Astronaut’s Estranged Wife Charged With Lying About Space Crime Allegation
Last August, Slashdot reader bobstreo tipped us off to an interesting story where an astronaut accessed the bank account of her estranged spouse from the International Space Station, in what may have been the first allegation of a crime committed in space. We have now learned that the spouse has been indicted on charges of lying to federal authorities. USA Today…
It’s a ‘Cold War Every Day’ Inside Apple’s IS&T Group
An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from a report via BuzzFeed News: A group inside Apple called Information Systems & Technology, or IS&T, builds much of the company’s internal technology tools — from servers and data infrastructure to retail and corporate sales software — and operates in a state of tumult. IS&T is made up largely of contractors hired by rival…
Cash App Scammers Are Using Coronavirus To Exploit People
An anonymous reader shares a report: Reyna is a teenager in Florida whose family is strapped for cash amid the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus. When the uber-popular beauty influencer Jeffree Star tweeted that he’d be giving out $30,000 via payment service Cash App to a random person who retweeted him, she did just that. Star’s offer seems to have…
Incredible close-up images of the natural world recognised with awards
Ethereal photos of life’s building blocks, Earth’s toughest creature and a close-up of a gem win Olympus Global Image of the Year Life Science Light Microscopy Award regional prizes Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24532760-300-incredible-close-up-images-of-the-natural-world-recognised-with-awards/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Submit your #SocialDistanceSelfie
How’re you doing out there? We want to see you and hear from you! Post your selfie at EarthSky Facebook, or at EarthSky Community Photos, or in the comments section of this post. Source: https://earthsky.org/todays-image/photos-social-distance-selfies-earthsky…
Windows, Ubuntu, macOS, VirtualBox Fall at Pwn2Own Hacking Contest
The 2020 spring edition of the Pwn2Own hacking contest has come to a close today. This year’s winner is Team Fluoroacetate — made up of security researchers Amat Cama and Richard Zhu — who won the contest after accumulating nine points across the two-day competition, which was just enough to extend their dominance and win their fourth tournament in a row….
Mathematicians who revealed the power of random walks win Abel prize
The 2020 Abel prize was awarded to mathematicians Hillel Furstenberg and Gregory Margulis for their use of probability and dynamics in group theory, number theory and combinatorics Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237832-mathematicians-who-revealed-the-power-of-random-walks-win-abel-prize/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
70% of Americans Hate Daylight Saving Time
“America is approaching one of its most contentious hours,” writes the Phildadelphia Inquirer, “and officially, it’s one that doesn’t exist.” According to the National Conference of State Legislators, lawmakers in 32 states are considering bills that would change the current system of splitting the year into about eight months of daylight time and the rest, standard. “It’s been a hot issue,”…
Elon Musk Wants To Build a New Starship Every 72 Hours
Ars Technica’s senior space editor visited SpaceX’s South Texas Launch Site for a long profile of Elon Musk (who was wearing an “Occupy Mars” t-shirt). Just two weeks ago Musk had called an all-hands meeting at 1 a.m. which led to a massive hiring spree of 252 people, doubling the site’s workforce, within the next 48 hours. “Most of the new…