Latest Science and Technology

Did you know TNW Conference has a track fully dedicated to bringing the biggest names in tech to showcase inspiring talks from those driving the future of technology this year? Tim Leberecht, who authored this piece, is one of the speakers. Check out the full ‘Impact‘ program here. At first glance, it is an unlikely match: on the one side, Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR), blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), or neuro-computing — so-called “exponential technologies,” defined as technologies that develop exponentially fast, with power and speed doubling and cost dropping by half every year. On the other side, the pre-kindergarten kids enrolled in Head… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/32J0eBB

Clever malware, student surveillance, and more of the week's top security news. from Security Latest https://ift.tt/2TuW4Jg

After two decades of working in and researching the auto industry, I realized it was time to give up the driver's seat. from Ideas Latest https://ift.tt/2Tpypdt

While you can focus on a host of different training programs to hyper-focus on potential growth areas, strong well-rounded training like the courses found in The Complete Business Professional Bootcamp Bundle ($29.99, over 90 percent off, from TNW Deals) can get you up to speed in several crucial areas all at once. from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3aicAmC

Did you know TNW Conference has a track fully dedicated to exploring new design trends this year? Check out the full ‘Sprint‘ program here. Between 2017 and 2018, Google produced a series of 24 short videos that saw digital designer Mustafa Kurtuldu interview a host of designers and developers about the various quirks of their profession, from “Becoming a Creative Coder” to “UX Research and Usability Testing.” Despite the tongue-in-cheek title of the series, Designer vs. Developer, it was intended to offer insight into the multiplicity of outputs each field could produce and encourage more collaborative working practices between the… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2Pz89Mi

Facebook Messenger is getting a facelift with a simpler, more streamlined design. Granted, we already knew that given the changes were on the way given they were announced way back in 2018, but today we got our first glimpse at what the final product might look like, courtesy of TechCrunch. The big picture: The Discover tab is disappearing, and chatbots are being curtailed. How many times have you actually used the Discover tab? If you’re like me, probably not much at all; I’d frankly all but forgotten it was there. Instead, you now simply have one tab for your chats,… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Facebook from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2T9zFlP

Facebook‘s trippy 3D photos are about to become much more accessible. The company first introduced the feature back in 2018, using depth data from your phone’s portrait mode to provide a nifty parallax effect to your images. It helped make images pop while scrolling through your news feed, and though it’s something of a gimmick, it’s still pretty cool. Problem was, it only worked if you’d activated portrait mode for that particular image. That’s no longer a constraint. Facebook is now able to create 3D images without your phone’s portrait mode. Instead, the company uses AI to calculate depth – … This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Facebook from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2VD8py1

Google Stadia might finally be getting a few of the features users have been hoping for since the service’s launch, namely free Pro trials and YouTube livestreaming. While it’s not completely fulfilling Stadia’s marketing promises, it is a step in the right direction. 9to5Google picked apart the latest update in an APK Insight post, in which it uncovered some potential future features. Among other things, the update contains various lines of code that indicate certain features are on the way. The most promising appears to be a free trial for Stadia Pro, the paid tier: “Button text for the Pro… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Google from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2uKaLjy

As a tech reporter, I’m used to seeing companies announce a product early only to delay it by months come release time. So it was a pretty big surprise to read a Windows Central report claiming Microsoft may release the Surface Duo–its dual-screen Android phone–months earlier than anticipated. When Microsoft announced the Duo and Neo–its larger Windows 10X-running sibling–in October, the company said the devices would be released during the holiday period of 2020. As much hype as Microsoft built around the devices, that’s a long time to wait for any product. But according to Zac Bowden of Windows Central “multiple contacts” suggest… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Microsoft from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2TsMBCx

Letting a company know about flaws in their products has gotten easier sine 2003—but not by much. from Security Latest https://ift.tt/2wgUfrq

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman took a shot at TikTok during a conference this week, calling it “fundamentally parasitic” and comparing it to spyware. His specific concerns appear to be based on the fact that the platform uses a form of “device fingerprinting” to track user behavior. Huffman was responding to a question about what startups could learn from TikTok‘s success, saying, “I can’t even get to that level of thinking with them.” He also said, “I actively tell people, ‘Don’t install that spyware on your phone.'” [Read: TikTok addict? Slow your scroll with time limit settings] There is some merit to his… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Reddit from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2T8O2Hi

Dangerzone takes potentially malicious files and safely sanitizes them for you. from Security Latest https://ift.tt/2vpfO9k

A striking overlap exists between the path of today's viral spread, and the path the Black Death followed in the 1300s. from Ideas Latest https://ift.tt/2To7nmv

Someone is disrupting cryptocurrency exchanges with Distributed Denial of Service attacks, with both Bitfinex and OKEx hit in the past 24 hours. “I was not aware of the attack against OKEx yesterday. I’m interested to understand similarities,” tweeted Bitfinex CTO Paulo Ardoino. “We’ve seen a level of sophistication that means a deep preparation from the attacker.” Seems the real attack. Attacker showed us his hand and allowed us to quickly prevent this from happening in the future, no matter the scale. While I'm saying this I'm touching balls (as we say in Italy) or touching wood.JK: I'm 100% confident in our solution… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3cd772B

A leaked list of Clearview AI’s clients shows that the controversial company’s facial recognition software has spread way beyond law enforcement, into household names ranging from the NBA to Walmart. Clearview claims to have scraped more than three billion images from websites and social media platforms into a database that police can use to match with photos of suspects. Clearview CEO Hoan Ton-That that the software is “strictly for law enforcement,” but the client list obtained by BuzzFeed shows that the software is also being by some of the world’s biggest companies. They include retailers (Walmart, Kohl’s, BestBuy and Macy’s); banks (Wells Fargo and Bank of… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/383lX8h

In case you needed a reason not to buy an internet-connected camera to guard your fortress: Yet another smart camera contained severe vulnerabilities that made it possible for hackers to hijack your device and spy on you in the privacy of your home. Researchers from antivirus firm Avira are warning that kinks in one of Cacagoo’s IP cameras (TV-288ZD-2MP) suffers from weak authentication protocols. The flaw not only exposes footage recorded by the device, but also makes it possible to infect the gadget with malware that scans your smart home network for other vulnerable systems. [Read: Amazon Engineer: ‘Ring should be… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Security from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2TmqRIq

The human brain is nothing short of a biological marvel, but sometimes (most notably around final exams) it can feel like our noodles can barely hold anything of value in there. Experts believe our short-term memory can only hold about seven items for about 20 to 30 seconds. Meanwhile, you have an average of 70,000 thoughts in a single day. Quick...blurt out as many as you can remember. Yeah...that’s what we thought. from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2IgoG45

Our robot colleague Satoshi Nakaboto writes about Bitcoin every fucking day. Welcome to another edition of Bitcoin Today, where I, Satoshi Nakaboto, tell you what’s been going on with Bitcoin in the past 24 hours. As Hannah Arendt used to say: Crack open this tasty lobster! Bitcoin price We closed the day, February 27 2020, at a price of $8,784. That’s a minor 0.46 percent decline in 24 hours, or -$40.60. It was the lowest closing price in thirty-one days. We’re still 56 percent below Bitcoin‘s all-time high of $20,089 (December 17 2017). Bitcoin market cap Bitcoin’s market cap ended… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Bitcoin from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3afmK7w

Countless articles have been written about the power of good leadership and how it can help employees and businesses thrive. And there’s a good reason, you can always do better. Leadership challenges change day to day, and sometimes frankly reminders are in order as it’s easy to get sidetracked by the host of other duties you have. [Read: 3 top tips to help you be a good boss] That’s why we spoke with a select group of tech founders to gain a few invaluable tips to help you hone your leadership skills and be the best boss you can be. 1. Be… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/32y1kjH

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump visited India for two days. During the visit, he held a meeting with the country’s top businessmen in the country’s capital. At this roundtable, India‘s richest man and owner of the country’s biggest telecom company, — Reliance Jio — Mukesh Ambani, boasted about not using any Chinese components in his mobile network: We’re the only network in the world that doesn’t have a single Chinese component. It doesn’t have it. In response, Trump said, “Well, that’s good.  Good.  Put a bid in (to build a 5G network).”  Just to give you context, Reliance Jio has… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2wXMKq1

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared an international public health emergency over the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus. One day later, the Wellcome Trust research charity called for researchers, journals, and funders around the world to share research data and findings relevant to the coronavirus rapidly and openly, to inform the public and help save lives. On the same day, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure launched a free website and called for scientists to publish research on the coronavirus with open access. Shortly after, the prominent scientific journal Nature issued an editorial urging all coronavirus researchers to “keep… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2T69mNp

Since this year’s MWC trade show in Barcelona was canceled due to the coronavirus scare, Vivo didn’t get a chance to unveil its latest Apex 2020 concept phone to the press in person. I’m bummed because Vivo has pushed the boundaries with its concepts over the past couple of years, and reading the spec sheet the company shared, it seems like its latest contraption is indeed something. Vivo says it’s baked a bunch of novel features into its Apex 2020 concept, including a selfie camera hidden beneath the curved display. The handset has apparently “increased the transmittance of the screen… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3cf6CVB

The Information has an interesting little scoop about Apple reportedly planning to bake a trackpad into its next keyboard cover accessory that will complement iPad Pro models. It sounds like yet another step towards making its tablets feel more like laptops — and that’s not really a bad thing. The way I see it, the challenge in turning the iPad into an everyday computer is about flexibility and efficiency. How much of my daily digital routine can I get through with this device, and how quickly can I do that? I’ve been using a third-gen iPad Air with Apple‘s Smart… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: iPad , Apple from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2PuCkUU

HTTPS is now considered to be a base standard for website security. You can always check if a website is using the latest encryption standards to secure your communication by checking out its HTTPS certificate. Let’s Encrypt, a site that provides such free certificates, has issued a billion of them since its launch in 2016. The non-profit is operated by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG), with members such as Mozilla Foundation, Akamai Technologies, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and the University of Michigan. [Read: A massive cache of stolen OnlyFans videos have been dumped online] HTTPS certificates issued by Let’s Encrypt are… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/385wcZX

There are many reasons why open offices — often popular among startups and scaleups — make sense: They’re often more cost effective to rent and help certain teams collaborate more effectively. But I hate them Sure, open office plans can theoretically boost informal interactions between employees, with research suggesting that employees spend more time working on collaborative ideas, so you could forgive some tech companies opting for this setup While open offices sound great on paper, I’d like to argue they’re only good on paper. In my experience, open offices pose a huge distraction — especially if your work requires… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3849X6I

Someone has leaked terabytes of content stolen from OnlyFans, a subscription site popular among influencers, sex workers, and pornographic actors. Photos and videos of specific users and performers is now out from behind the site’s paywall, meaning content creators are no longer able to profit from their work. And it doesn’t seem like there’s anything they can do. If you’re unfamiliar with OnlyFans (be honest with me now), it’s a site where viewers can pay a fee to view photos and videos put up by content creators. Ostensibly it would allow the latter to profit from their work, but it’s… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2PvNCIG

There was a time when virtually every phone had a removable battery – and then the iPhone was announced. As Apple’s trend-setting powers would have it, in 2020 there are virtually no high-end phones with removable batteries left. But if the EU has its way, those tides may soon be turning – Apple may have to make an iPhone with a removable battery for the first time. In leaked documents seen by Dutch publication Het Financieele Dagblad, the European Commission is shown to be pursuing the return of user-removable batteries. It’s worth noting that as these documents are not public, there’s no… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Apple from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2vlLYT5

Facebook today announced the cancellation of its annual F8 developer conference due to fears over the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. The annual conference was scheduled to take place in San Jose, California on May 5-6. Facebook announced the cancellation in a blog post Thursday morning. The company’s platform partnerships director, Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, wrote: This was a tough call to make — F8 is an incredibly important event for Facebook and it’s one of our favorite ways to celebrate all of you from around the world — but we need to prioritize the health and safety of our developer partners, employees and… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Facebook from The Next Web https://ift.tt/37YLBv2

Etsy this week revealed a new promoted advertising policy that essentially allows them to take a generous cut of sales, and sellers with successful stores won’t be able to opt out. The new measure will add yet another mandatory fee for sellers — if the advertising works, of course. According to Etsy’s announcement, it’s instituting a new Offsite Ads program, in which it’ll promote items on sites like Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Whenever a buyer clicks on an ad and buys the product shown, Etsy will collect either a 12% or 15% fee on the sale on top of… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Etsy from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3cfX64E

Eric Schmidt has called on the US government to “get back in the game in a serious way” so that the country can maintain its lead over China in the AI arms race. In an op-ed for the New York Times, the former CEO of Google argued that Americans had put “too much faith in the private sector” to drive technological advances — giving China the chance to catch up. Schmidt said his time as chairman of both the National Security Commission on AI and the Defense Innovation Board had shown him how this would have “profound ramifications for our… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2T2pkrY

Spotify is rolling out a new design for its mobile app today, starting with iOS. Though the changes are relatively minor – don’t expect a major redesign – they should make the app a little simpler to navigate. The key aesthetic change is that Spotify is foregoing text on its buttons for larger, more prominent buttons. This makes the app a little more accessible and language-independent while looking a little cleaner too. For example, instead of the big ol’ ‘shuffle play’ button that would appear at the top of an artist page or playlist, there’s a new icon that communicates… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: iOS , Spotify from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2Pw7ZFz

People have a lot of bizarre notions about Covid-19 and the 2020 elections—but if you have to laugh, just do it in private. from Ideas Latest https://ift.tt/2uAaoI6

Researchers have developed a new personalized learning robot for autistic children that uses machine learning to adapt its lessons to each kid’s changing needs. The University of Southern California team put a “socially assistive robot” called Kiwi in the homes of 17 autistic children and set the two-foot-tall, green-feathered robot to give each child personalized classes. Over the course of a month, the children played space-themed math games on a tablet device while Kiwi provided feedback and instruction, such as congratulating them on a correct answer or giving tips after a wrong one. As the lessons progressed, algorithms adjusted Kiwi’s feedback and the difficulty of the… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2uEnHHC

Boris is the wise ol’ CEO of TNW who writes a weekly column on everything about being an entrepreneur in tech — from managing stress to embracing awkwardness. You can get his musings straight to your inbox by signing up for his newsletter! At a dinner I hosted this week I had a discussion about preparing food. I enjoy hosting dinners and regularly cook for a dozen people at a time, and I’ve even cooked for groups of up to 150 people at my house. Someone asked me what my trick is and I repeated what I’ve said often, to… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2HZv2nY

Streaming persists as a major money maker for music’s fat-cats. Not only did it account for 80% of the entire music industry‘s profit in 2019, streaming collectively earned Universal, Sony, and Warner almost $1 million per hour — per fucking hour. In fact, booming subscriber bases led to increased streaming revenues for the industry’s “Big Three.” Music Business Worldwide reports they hit $3.73 billion, $2.4 billion, and $2.21 billion respectively, down from 2018, but still impressive. This solidifies services like Spotify as the primary revenue driver for Big Music; a market now larger than the entire US recorded music market just two years… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3cd6zcT

Affected devices include iPhones, iPads, Macs, Amazon Echos and Kindles, Android devices, and various Wi-Fi routers. from Security Latest https://ift.tt/2I2wsOA

You might want to hold off copping this baby monitor to keep an eye out on your newly born — unless you’re fine with unknowingly streaming your toddler to total strangers on the internet. A severe vulnerability in iBaby Monitor M6S allowed hackers to snatch any saved pics or footage, access a live feed of the camera, and even glean your personal information, an investigation by PCMag and Bitdefender has found. The worst part? Anybody with an M6S and the necessary network skills can breach cloud-stored content by every other device of the same type. [Read: Amazon Engineer: ‘Ring should be shut… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3a9mmaJ

Welcome to Shift Basics, a collection of tips, explainers, guides, and advice to keep you up to speed with mobility tech. Autonomous driving isn’t quite as clear cut as it sounds. Despite many vehicles claiming to have self-driving capabilities, they aren’t all the same. As it happens, the industry (Society of Automotive Engineers, SAE) has settled on separating self-driving cars into five classes or levels — six if you include cars that have no automation at all. [Read: These idiots shot a porno in an Autopilot-enabled Tesla and Elon Musk deserves some blame] It’s important to know these levels in… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/32vtN9G

Most space missions investigate the surface or atmosphere of a body. But NASA’s InSight probe, which landed on Mars in November 2018, is different – it is the first mission dedicated to studying the interior structure of the planet and whether it gives rise to “marsquakes.” Now the results from its first ten months on the Martian surface have been published in a series of papers in Nature Geoscience and Nature Communications (see an overview here). InSight touched down via parachute and retrorockets on the plains known as Elysium Planitia – lying between the ancient volcano Elysium Mons, and Gale Crater… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: NASA from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2uFqTTq

Scientists are developing a system that can identify suspected pedophiles just by analyzing their hands. Researchers from Lancaster University and the University of Dundee plan to train computers to extract anatomical features from photographs and hands. Algorithms will then scan the database of images to find the details that match a pair of hands to those of a suspected criminal. The project has been named H-Unique, as it’s based on the premise that if human hands are all unique, they can be used to identify any individual. This could be particularly powerful to help identify child abusers, as in videos and images… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/386li69

If you have any aspirations of working in high-stakes business IT administration, then ITIL 4 needs to be in your skillset. Thankfully, we can help you out with that with training in The ITIL 4 Executive Review Course, now on sale for 80 percent off, down to just $95 from TNW Deals. from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3cf5OA8

Headphones are practically required to be more versatile now than ever before. They need to be prepared to connect wirelessly for Bluetooth connectivity, while still allowing for more audiophile-centric wired connections. They need to have a built-in mic for use with your phone. They need to be sturdy enough to provide superior sound and survive in the outside world, while being lightweight enough that they aren’t a burden when you’re heading from place to place. from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3a8YUdJ

Our robot colleague Satoshi Nakaboto writes about Bitcoin every fucking day. Welcome to another edition of Bitcoin Today, where I, Satoshi Nakaboto, tell you what’s been going on with Bitcoin in the past 24 hours. As Aristotle used to say: Let’s get this bread! Bitcoin price We closed the day, February 26 2020, at a price of $8,820. That’s a worrying 5.54 percent decline in 24 hours, or -$517.77. It was the lowest closing price in thirty days. We’re still 56 percent below Bitcoin‘s all-time high of $20,089 (December 17 2017). Bitcoin market cap Bitcoin’s market cap ended the day… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Bitcoin from The Next Web https://ift.tt/32yn9ja

After nearly three years of waiting, Google Earth finally works on browsers other than Chrome, including Firefox, Opera, and the Chromium-based Edge. “After six months of a public beta, we are now making Google Earth accessible on Firefox, Edge, and Opera browsers,” Earth software engineer Jessi Beck and lead manager Jordon Mears announced in a blog post. “This was made possible by moving Google Earth for Chrome onto WebAssembly (Wasm), the W3C web standard for bringing native code to the web.” [Read: Maps now lets you combine subway directions with cabs and bikes] In 2017, the Big G unveiled a massive Earth overhaul… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Firefox , Google from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2PozYaj

The prospect of contacting sentient aliens is a staple of science fiction. Of course, we have yet to (knowingly) find any; and it’s not impossible (albeit unlikely) that we are the only sentient beings in the universe. Still, speculating about how contact with an alien race might go is something we tend to enjoy. Here are some fictional first contact scenarios and some thoughts on whether they are, at all, plausible. The massive invasion — Independence Day I can’t believe this movie was made in 1996. Or rather, I can’t believe how long it’s been since 1996. (Yes, I’m talking… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3a98ahV

One of the world’s largest car makers, Toyota, has further demonstrated its intent on supporting self-driving vehicles. The Japanese carmaker is planning to invest $400 million into Pony.ai, a Chiense self-driving car startup that’s based across Silicon Valley in the US and Guangzhou in China, Bloomberg reports. [Read: New algorithm for self-driving vehciles has a bold ‘collision-free guarantee’] With the latest round of funding, Pony.ai is reportedly now valued at around $3 billion. Alongside Toyota, existing investors injected an additional $62 million. Not only did Toyota make the largest cash injection in this round, it also didn’t request any kind… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2I3E7Mw

The doctor’s words still echo in your mind. Your fingers tremble as you sit down to learn more about the diagnosis your loved one just received. You know there’s a long road ahead, and finding out more about the disease is the first step forward. You have the internet and the pamphlets the doctor handed to you in the waiting room. You’re all set. Except you’re overwhelmed, emotional, and you can’t understand most of it. This might be a dramatic way to get into how to improve your content, but it’s an apt example of the challenges most businesses face.… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3celLX6

At its annual shareholder meeting, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, said the company is planning to sell iPhones in India through its own online store this year. He also added that the first Apple store in the country will open in 2021. According to reports last August, the company was originally planning to inaugurate its physical store this year in Mumbai. While Cook didn’t provide a timeline for the launch of the online store, TechCrunch noted last month that the tech giant could start the service by Q3 of this year. [Read: The next version of Wi-Fi might detect your movement in the… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Apple from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2w82Exy

Welcome to TNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, and other stuff. GOG today revealed a new refund policy in which it would accept returns on games for up to 30 days after the purchase, even if they’ve already been played. This would make it one of the few gaming platforms that I know of that accepts refunds for games that have been played to excess  — even Steam will only accept returns if you’ve played for less than roughly two hours. GOG is sort of working on… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2HVkwyi

“Security is Clearview’s top priority.” Tor Eklund, attorney for Clearview AI. Clearview AI, the dubious startup that’s cozied up to the US law enforcement community with its facial recognition software, has managed to crap the metaphorical bed by allowing an intruder to exploit a security flaw and make off with its entire client list. The exact nature and source of the breach remains unknown at this time. The company says it’s patched the vulnerability and insists its servers were not accessed. But, based on the sensitive nature of its work, there’s plenty of reason for concern. Clearview says it works… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2VoYyLZ

Facebook this week has reassured everyone that it’s going to ban ads that promise “cures” for the Covid-19 virus (a.k.a. the coronavirus). Whether it can actually do so remains to be seen. Both Facebook and Instagram first mentioned their interest in banning phony “cures” back in January, as part of their larger plan to banmisinformation surrounding the coronavirus. Facebook confirmed its interest in banning such ads to Business Insider today, saying: We recently implemented a policy to prohibit ads that refer to the coronavirus and create a sense of urgency, like implying a limited supply, or guaranteeing a cure or prevention. We… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Facebook from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3c3Y7fU

Scientists from Imperial College London have proposed a new regulatory framework for assessing the impact of AI, called the Human Impact Assessment for Technology (HIAT). The researchers believe the HIAT could identify the ethical, psychological and social risks of technological progress, which are already being exposed in a growing range of applications, from voter manipulation to algorithmic sentencing. They based their idea on the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), which has been used to evaluate the environmental effects of proposed developments for 50 years. Like environmental impact, the human impact of AI is difficult to model and often produces unforeseen results. Software is often easy to… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3c8TfGp

Virgin Galactic’s latest earning reports confirmed it still doesn’t make any money. But, eager space nerds looking to be shot into (sub)orbit by Richard Branson can now pay a $1,000 deposit, so that’s something. The Mojave-based firm only made $529,000 revenue last quarter, leading to a loss of $55 million, higher than analysts anticipated. The quarter previous saw it generate more than $800,000 in revenue, but lose $51.5 million overall. While losses mount, Virgin Galactic says customer demand has doubled, having garnered almost 8,000 reservations of interest since December 2018’s successful powered test flight — the first since 2014’s tragic crashing of its SpaceshipTwo VSS Enterprise.… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3802K7x

Now for something we could all use more of in our lives: quicker and more convenient access to products and delicious (yet surprisingly healthy) foods.  Say goodbye to your ever so creative dinners of croque monsieur (grilled cheese with ham) or consommé avec noodles (cup of instant ramen). This category of Tech5 scaleups is going to whip us into shape by making deliveries quicker, easier, and better for our health — and even the health of our lovable pets. Tech5 2020: On the search for Europe’s hot young scaleups  Every year TNW and payments tech giant Adyen have been scouring… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2HUfAK3

A new manga designed by AI and drawn by a robotic hand will be published in this week’s edition of Japan‘s Morning magazine. The AI developed the characters and plot by studying the works of Osamu Tezuka, known as “the father of manga” and the “Walt Disney of Japan” for creating classics such as Astro Boy and Black Jack before his death in 1989. Humans helpers completed the work by adding details such as clothing and dialogue, the Japan Times reports. The results will be revealed in a story called “Paidon,” which revolves around a homeless philosopher who teams up with a… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/39df99P

This article is part of Demystifying AI, a series of posts that (try to) disambiguate the jargon and myths surrounding AI. Since the early days of artificial intelligence, computer scientists have been dreaming of creating machines that can see and understand the world as we do. The efforts have led to the emergence of computer vision, a vast subfield of AI and computer science that deals with processing the content of visual data. In recent years, computer vision has taken great leaps thanks to advances in deep learning and artificial neural networks. Deep learning is a branch of AI that is especially good at… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/32qYSeL

This tidbit will ruin mystery movies forever, but there you go: Apple strictly forbids filmmakers from putting iPhones (or any of its other products) in the hands of villains — or so says director of Knives Out and Star Wars: Episode VIII, Rian Johnson. In an interview with Vanity Fair, the director divulged that Apple is pretty draconian about how its gadgets are portrayed in movies. “I don’t know if I should say this or not,” Johnson says, giggling. “[Apple lets] you use iPhones in movies […] [but] bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera.” [Read: Here are the 9 titles Netflix purged… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Apple from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2waTGiM