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Showing posts from February, 2021

Stunning new image of Venus reveals nightglow on the planet’s edge

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The Parker Solar Probe, designed for detailed study of the Sun, has another advantage — it is able to examine planets as it passes their orbits. As it refines its orbit around our Sun, Parker will pass Venus a total of seven times over its seven-year mission. The Parker probe uses the gravitational pull of planets to bend its path through the Solar System. Recorded on July 11, 2020, a fascinating new image of Venus was taken during the third of Parker’s seven planned encounters with the Sun. This photo was recorded by the Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3r8EjiO

How to always join a Zoom call on mute

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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. All of us take a ton of Zoom calls as part of the new normal. A few days ago, I joined one while I was “chatting” with my cat. I had assumed that I’d be muted, but I was wrong. Luckily, folks on the call just heard my cat for a few seconds. That made me realize that there should be a setting to join a call always on mute. Thankfully, I found it. Here’s… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/37XaLgn

Far-Right Platform Gab Has Been Hacked—Including Private Data

The transparency group DDoSecrets says it will make the 70GB of passwords, private posts, and more available to researchers, journalists, and social scientists. from Security Latest https://ift.tt/37W1e9m

Most ads you see are chosen by a reinforcement learning model — here’s how it works

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Every day, digital advertisement agencies serve billions of ads on news websites, search engines, social media networks, video streaming websites, and other platforms. And they all want to answer the same question: Which of the many ads they have in their catalog is more likely to appeal to a certain viewer? Finding the right answer to this question can have a huge impact on revenue when you are dealing with hundreds of websites, thousands of ads, and millions of visitors. Fortunately (for the ad agencies, at least), reinforcement learning, the branch of artificial intelligence that has become renowned for mastering board and… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3bLyO2P

TrueMail can make sure all of your business emails reach your most engaged customers

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TLDR: TrueMail Bulk Email Verifier checks to make sure all the email addresses on your customer’s lists are accurate and up to date, driving up your deliverability and conversion rates. While it’s tempting to think that everything in marketing hinges around social media these days, the numbers don’t exactly bear that out yet. While 20 percent of online customers say they frequent a brand’s social media channels for important deals and other brand info, that number jumps to 60 percent who say they’ve subscribed to a favored brand’s email list. Social media matters in the selling game, but email marketing… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3r1Db0k

Warnings From the Queer History of Modern Internet Regulation

Section 230 faces countless reform efforts. But a look back reminds us that categorical content bans often come at the expense of marginalized groups. from Ideas Latest https://ift.tt/3b1DiDx

The SolarWinds Body Count Now Includes NASA and the FAA

Plus: Firefox blocks more tracking, how to fight a robodog, and more of the week’s top security news. from Security Latest https://ift.tt/3sz5Bz6

Hey millennials, stop ruining emoji for Gen Z

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When I saw the news that Apple would be releasing 217 new emojis into the world, I did what I always do: I asked my undergraduates what it meant to them. “We barely use them anymore,” they scoffed. To them, many emojis are like overenthusiastic dance moves at weddings: reserved for awkward millennials. “And they use them all wrong anyway,” my cohort from generation Z added earnestly. My work focuses on how people use technology, and I’ve been following the rise of emoji for a decade. With 3,353 characters available and 5 billion sent each day, emojis are now a significant language… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3q4fdA6

The US space policy keeps changing — at the expense of the next Moon landing

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Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan blasted off from the Taurus-Littrow valley on the Moon in their lunar module Challenger on December 14, 1972. Five days later, they splashed down safely in the Pacific, closing the Apollo 17 mission and becoming the last humans to visit the lunar surface or venture anywhere beyond low-Earth orbit. Now the international Artemis program, lead by NASA, is aiming to put humans back on the Moon by 2024. But it is looking increasingly likely that this goal could be missed. History shows just how vulnerable space programs, which require years of planning and development spanning… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3aZqWfd

Can auditing eliminate bias from algorithms?

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For more than a decade, journalists and researchers have been writing about the dangers of relying on algorithms to make weighty decisions: who gets locked up, who gets a job, who gets a loan — even who has priority for COVID-19 vaccines. Rather than remove bias, one algorithm after another has codified and perpetuated it, as companies have simultaneously continued to more or less shield their algorithms from public scrutiny. The big question ever since: How do we solve this problem? Lawmakers and researchers have advocated for algorithmic audits, which would dissect and stress-test algorithms to see how they work… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3bMCYHF

This tiny particle accelerator fits in a large room — making it much more practical than CERN’s

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In 2010, when scientists were preparing to smash the first particles together within the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), sections of the media fantasized that the EU-wide experiment might create a black hole that could swallow and destroy our planet. How on Earth, columnists fumed, could scientists justify such a dangerous indulgence in the pursuit of abstract, theoretical knowledge? But particle accelerators are much more than enormous toys for scientists to play with. They have practical uses too, though their sheer size has, so far, prevented their widespread use. Now, as part of large-scale European collaboration, my team has published a… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2NCLwcs

The UI and UX work together in this nine-course training package to make you a web design pro

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TLDR: From creating brilliant user interfaces to understanding user experience needs, The Complete Become a UI/UX Designer Bundle is how you build a website or app the right way. There’s little more critical to all of web development than the ultimate experience a user has engaging with that app or site. Considering that importance, it’s always a little strange when developers all too often fall into the trap of forgetting that humans will one day have to navigate the system they’re now intricately building. Use all the cutting edge design elements and exotic architecture you like, but if it potentially… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3dMkKca

Clubhouse Cured My Imposter Syndrome

The scammers turned savants and the whimsical nerds who abound on the audio platform have freed me of personal doubt. from Ideas Latest https://ift.tt/3pXS16I

Brompton Electric review: A tiny folding ebike you’ll take almost everywhere

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Electric bicycles can be the fastest way to get around a city like New York, but they can also be a pain when you’re not actively using the electric components. For one, ebikes typically command large price tags that make them compelling targets for thieves; carrying two heavy duty locks with you everywhere is usually a minimum. For another, they tend to weigh 50-70 pounds, making them a pain to manuever while not riding them. God forbid you need to carry your bike up a fifth floor walkup, or that your bike breaks down and you need to take it… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3q0eqQy

A beginner’s guide to AI: Ethics in artificial intelligence

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Welcome to Neural’s beginner’s guide to AI. This long-running series should provide you with a very basic understanding of what AI is, what it can do, and how it works. In addition to the article you’re currently reading, the guide contains articles on (in order published) neural networks, computer vision, natural language processing, algorithms, artificial general intelligence, the difference between video game AI and real AI, and the difference between human and machine intelligence. The most obvious solution for a given problem isn’t always the best solution. For example: it’d be much easier for us to dump all of our… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2ZX4VXQ

MyHeritage’s new AI tool turns photos of the dead into unnerving videos

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Genealogy site MyHeritage has unveiled a new AI tool that turns photos of deceased relatives into creepy videos. The DeepNostalgia feature is powered by tech developed by Israeli tech firm D-ID. MyHeritage says it uses several drivers to animate the faces: Each driver is a video consisting of a fixed sequence of movements and gestures. Deep Nostalgia can very accurately apply the drivers to a face in your still photo, creating a short video that you can share with your friends and family. The driver guides the movements in the animation so you can see your ancestors smile, blink, and turn their… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3kqxK8s

Clubhouse's Security and Privacy Lag Behind Its Huge Growth

The platform has promised to do better after a string of incidents. But the hardest part might be managing user expectations. from Security Latest https://ift.tt/2MrXp47

The ins and outs of JavaScript reducer — a simple, yet powerful array method

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JavaScript’s reduce is one of the most useful array methods that should be in a developer’s arsenal. Introduced in ES5, it’s somewhat similar to for…each and map methods that are used with arrays, but improves on their performance and simplicity in specific situations. The reduce method executes a callback function that we provide on each element stored in an array and outputs the final value the operation generates. It’s a cleaner way of iterating over and processing the data stored in an array. Currently, it’s supported by all of the major browser versions, and is available in Node.js from version 10.0 upwards.… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2ZV62HK

How to automatically delete your embarrassing tweets for free

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Twitter’s great for sharing stolen memes, vapid opinions, and occasionally interesting news. But some of the toilet humor and “edgy” hot takes you tweeted in the past might not suit your new image as a wise-cracking sage. If some malicious cyber-stalker digs them up, you could end up publicly-shamed, dumped, or even unemployed. Unfortunately, Twitter doesn’t provide a way to bulk-delete tweets (assholes). Instead, the site suggests you manually remove the offending tweets, one-by-one. But that can be a grueling task, littered with humiliating reminders of the past. [Read: How do you build a pet-friendly gadget? We asked experts and animal owners] A more… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3stJvhb

Want $10,000 in Bitcoin and Ethereum? Just give back and enter for your chance to win

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TLDR: The winner of The Complete Bitcoin Investment Giveaway takes home $10,000 in crypto-seed money with the training to grow that nest egg, all for the cost of an entry. What’s better than winning $10,000 in cryptocurrency as the uber winner of The Complete Bitcoin (BTC) Investment Giveaway Contest? Well, the fact that those winnings also come with the means to turn that $10,000 into $15,000, or $20,000, or even more. Talk about the gift that keeps on giving… To get involved, you only have to enter the free and simple drawing. Just enter your name and if you’re the… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3svYsiQ

An ode to portable CD players — you were ugly in a beautiful way

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This is adapted from Plugged In, TNW’s bi-weekly newsletter on gear and gadgets. Subscribe to it here. Hey, P— Hey, P— Hey, P— Fuck. Let me stand still for a second… Hey, Plugged In is back again, and this time we’re talking about portable CD players.  Longterm readers will know I’m a man of many “phases” and, currently I’m in what I’d call my Compact Disc Renaissance™. I’d like to talk about this further (and believe me, there’s little more I want to do right now) — but that’d ruin the exciting bit of 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖓𝖙 we’ve got lined up for you in the next edition of Plugged In (SIGN UP HERE). See what I did, Mom? That’s a teaser. This is a professional… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3bHz3fp

The skills to turn you into a true backend web developer are right here for under $30

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TLDR: The Backend Developer Bootcamp Bundle includes five courses cover C#, APIs, SQL, object-oriented programming and other core skills in creating your own awesome web apps. Front-end development gets all the press. It’s the forward-facing, sexy part of web design that gets people talking. All those colors and sleek navigation menus and other whiz-bang features of a web page or app are eye catching and instantly garner the lion’s share of attention. But oh, don’t forget about that unassuming back-end developer. Because once you scratch the surface sheen of a new digital creation, it’s the true functionality and built-in abilities… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2NGKQTe

To Quash Disinfo, Researchers Must Work With Journalists

Exposing and fighting the problem requires drawing from reporters' resources and reach. from Ideas Latest https://ift.tt/3bDYnmE

LA’s light rail extension could help revitalize neighborhoods and improve air quality

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This article was originally published by Christopher Carey on Cities Today, the leading news platform on urban mobility and innovation, reaching an international audience of city leaders. For the latest updates follow Cities Today on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube, or sign up for Cities Today News. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has granted the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) a Record of Decision for its East San Fernando Valley light rail transit project, certifying that the scheme has satisfied federal guidelines for environmental analysis. The decision paves the way for the authority to seek federal funding for the design and construction… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2O7K4yE

You SHOULD wave at the end of video calls — here’s why

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It’s been brought to my attention that some people think you shouldn’t wave at the end of video calls. Those people are incorrect. Zapier was remote before it was cool/mandatory. We’ve been running on video calls for almost a decade, and we’re all big end-of-meeting wavers. I did a quick Slack poll (which was unnecessary because I already know that every call here ends with a lot of waving), and the group unanimously favors waving. I literally can’t remember the last time we all agreed on anything — it’s possible it’s never happened before. Here’s the definitive ruling for the entire internet,… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3bAPZ7i

Twitter’s new ‘Communities’ and ‘Super Follows’ will make it more like Facebook and Patreon

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At its core, Twitter hasn’t changed all that much in the past few years. For the most part, people use it the same as they always have — a mostly public-facing ‘microblogging’ platform. But the company today unveiled highlighted multiple upcoming features that could significantly change the way people interact with one another on the platform, in many ways making it more versatile — and more like some of its competitors. The announcements came as part of Twitter’s ‘Analyst Day.’ here are some of the biggest ones. Communities Communities is essentially the Twitter version of Facebook Groups. It allows Twitter… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Facebook , Twitter from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3sukgeN

How to shift your AI focus from accuracy to value

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“All models are wrong, but some are useful.” This is a famous quote from 20th century statistical thinker, George E.P. Box. This might seem like a strange message- shouldn’t all the models we build be as correct as possible? However, as a data scientist myself, I see great wisdom in this statement. After all, businesses don’t buy AI for model accuracy, they buy it to drive business value. Many businesses are investing in AI today without fully realizing its potential to deliver business impact. It’s time to shift the conversation. The problem? Most groups embark on building their AI solution… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3uuHjYK

AI-Powered information operations and new citizenship

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Digital information is power, and today citizens have this new power at their fingertips, channeled through reactions, comments, shares, saves and searches on our everyday digital platforms. However, this new power is ubiquitous and its direct effects remain obfuscated by the AI-powered black boxes of tech giants.  Unfortunately, we’re many times too eager to tell Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, or Jack Dorsey how to change their platform policies and algorithms to make the world a better place, but simultaneously failing to answer this:  What are our responsibilities as citizens in this new reality in which digital and physical, political and… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2P8Edtb

Robot artist gets its first major exhibition — but is it truly creative?

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A robot artist called Ai-Da will get its first major exhibition at London’s Design Museum this summer. But is the humanoid truly creative? Ai-Da’s works are based on photos taken by cameras in the droid’s eyes. Algorithms then transform the images into a set of coordinates, which guide the robot’s drawing hand. Ai-Da’s co-inventor, Aiden Meller, describes Ai-Da’s fragmented style as “shattered.” We didn’t want tight representational photographic images, even though we could have programmed it to do that. We went against that because we realised that people would just think it was some kind of expensive photocopier. But more than that, we wanted… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3kmDRLd

Bollywood movies continue to associate beauty with fair skin, AI study finds

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Bollywood continues to associate female beauty with fair skin, according to a new AI study by Carnegie Mellon University computer scientists. The researchers explored evolving social biases in the $2.1 billion film industry by analyzing movie dialogues from the last 70 years. They first selected 100 popular Bollywood films from each of the past seven decades, along with 100 of the top-grossing Hollywood movies from the same period.  They then applied Natural Language Processing (NLP)  techniques to subtitles of the films to examine how social biases have evolved over time. “Our argument is simple,” the researchers wrote in their study paper. “Popular movie content reflects… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3spXJzO

Stop listening to your #yesbut brain if you want to grow

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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! It’s all too natural to go on the defensive when someone challenges you. You don’t even think about it, it’s so instinctive it feels like an integral part of the conversation. You’re challenged, so you defend. But is it really? I’ve started to force myself to bite my lip when someone says something I interpret as a… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3srjSOi

The Terrible T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Must Be Undone

It should have never been allowed, and it’s led to anticompetitive behavior. The Antitrust Division needs to roll it back. from Ideas Latest https://ift.tt/2ZRu5Y6

This teensy Chinese EV outsold Tesla last month — and it’s cheaper than some ebikes

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Over in the US, General Motors has made its statement of intent, pledging to go electric and remove tail-pipe emissions from its light passenger vehicles by 2035. It looks like GM still has a way to go before we see its electric dreams realized on English-speaking shores. However, if we turn our gaze to China, GM is already helping to produce electric vehicles, and it turns out, the fruit of its labor is outselling Tesla, by a long way — last month at least. Let me introduce you to the Wuling Hong Guang Mini EV, the electric vehicle that’s stealing… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Tesla from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2NUzsmt

These 10 tools can help any freelancer be more productive and make more money

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TLDR: From marketing tools to social media helpers to cloud storage, these 10 deals can help a freelance entrepreneur spend more time working and less time running their business. Freelancing is a grind. You’re not only scratching to get work done. You’re also constantly trying to sell yourself to new potential clients as well as developing new opportunities to expand your mighty business of one.  Considering how much those scrappy self-starters already have on their plates, we pulled together this collection of 10 different apps and services to help. These offers can assist in streamlining projects, extending outreach, and ultimately… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3pTmfri

A handy list of India’s new rules for policing social media and streaming platforms

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The Indian government has released guidelines for social media intermediaries such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter. Along with that, it also framed rules for over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. This code, officially known as the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, will affect how large tech companies operate in India and their content moderation policies. Here are the most important points from the code: Social media platforms All social media companies will need to appoint a grievance officer. The officer should acknowledge user complaints in three days and resolve them within… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3pOGYwl

Just how big are Elon Musk and Bill Gates’ carbon footprints? You might be surprised

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Tesla’s Elon Musk and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos have been vying for the world’s richest person ranking all year after the former’s wealth soared a staggering US$160 billion in 2020, putting him briefly in the top spot. Musk isn’t alone in seeing a significant increase in wealth during a year of pandemic, recession, and death. Altogether, the world’s billionaires saw their wealth surge over $1.9 trillion in 2020, according to Forbes. Those are astronomical numbers, and it’s hard to get one’s head around them without some context. As anthropologists who study energy and consumer culture, we wanted to examine how all… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/37M0qUB

What you need to know about ’15-minute cities’ — the future of sustainable urban life

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Welcome to SHIFT Basics, a collection of tips, explainers, guides, and advice to keep you up to speed with mobility tech. As the coronavirus pandemic took hold, many of us started working from and spending much more time at home. The situation has made us far more aware of how our neighborhoods are built around driving, working life, and commuting by car. It’s got many of us asking: are our neighborhoods really as good as they can be? Over the past year, cities around the world have experimented with low-traffic neighborhoods, with much success. But a bigger idea is afoot,… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3aSBwVd

Edinburgh plans to make its public transit net-zero by 2030 — here’s how

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This article was originally published by Christopher Carey on Cities Today, the leading news platform on urban mobility and innovation, reaching an international audience of city leaders. For the latest updates follow Cities Today on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube, or sign up for Cities Today News. Edinburgh City Council has published a ten-year plan aimed at delivering a more integrated and sustainable net-zero transport system. The City Mobility Plan – which is subject to approval at the Transport & Environment Committee on 19 February – will replace Edinburgh’s Local Transport Strategy. It sets out a strategic approach to the sustainable movement of people… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3pQSho0

5 reasons to include Clubhouse in your brand strategy — before the hype dies

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Is Clubhouse all you hear about recently? The pandemic gave us a new way to communicate, and everybody seems to be crazy into it. To me, Clubhouse feels like LinkedIn mixed with Facebook and Skype without those irritating algorithms. But why did it get so hot so fast? Insider’s Shona Ghosh says “It’s insider-y vibe fuels desperation rather than cool,” and I second it. Its core strength is the need not to miss out on great opportunities. You can chat with great minds on Clubhouse, like a16z partners, or CEO of Figma, or even Elon Musk, and it feels like… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2NH72wp

NASA’s TESS found 3 exoplanets orbiting a young sun-like star

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Roughly 400 light years from Earth, a young star named TOI 451 travels within a river of stars. An international team of astronomers has now found three previously unknown exoplanets orbiting that star. The Pisces-Eridanus stream of stars was only recently discovered — at the end of 2018 — despite stretching across one-third of the sky. Stars within this stream average only around 3% of the age of our own solar system. “This system checks a lot of boxes for astronomers. It’s only 120 million years old and just 400 light-years away, allowing detailed observations of this young planetary system. And… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: NASA from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3kkEmW5

How to share text and links across your devices via your browser

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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. It’s easy to share links and text if you operate in Apple’s world, i.e. you have an iPhone and a Mac. If you don’t know how to do that yet, you should read my colleague Callum’s mind-expanding guide. However, what if you have an iPhone and a Windows laptop or an Android phone and a MacBook? Don’t worry, I got you. This free tool called Share TXT will let you share text and links between… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3srdhDn

Avatar: The Last Airbender fans are getting new animated movies and series

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Fans of the ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender‘ and ‘The Legend of Korra‘ (including yours truly) just recieved a surprise piece of awesome news today: Nickelodeon is making an animated movie to replace the godawful live action one. Production begins this year. Better yet, Nickeloden is creating a whole new studio dedicated to expanding the universe. Fittingly dubbed Avatar Studios, it’s being helmed by series’ creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who will act as chief creative officers. Avatar Studios productions, including upcoming series and movies (plural!) will premier on Nickelodeon and Paramount+. we're teaming up with Avatar co-creators Mike and Bryan to launch… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3aT4LXG

Fantasy General II Evolution DLC review: Eat the rich, devour the defeated

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Slitherine and Owned By Gravity’s excellent turn-based tactical combat game Fantasy General II gets its most intriguing DLC yet in Evolution, scheduled to release tomorrow on 25 February. I’ve had my scaly claws on it for a couple of weeks and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every second of the delicious bloodbath that is the Lizardfolk campaign. Up front: Evolution brings an all-new campaign featuring over 20 missions, a new Lizardfolk hero for this DLC and an alternate hunter version of Falirson for the main campaign, and an entirely new campaign map called the Archipelago. It also brings new items, unit types,… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3aQpgUW

Is there a more environmentally friendly way to train AI?

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Machine learning is changing the world, and it’s changing it fast. In just the last few years, it’s brought us virtual assistants that understand language, autonomous vehicles, new drug discoveries, AI-based triage for medical scans, handwriting recognition and more.  One thing that machine learning shouldn’t be changing is the climate.  The issue relates to how machine learning is developed. In order for machine learning (and deep learning) to be able to accurately make decisions and predictions, it needs to be ‘trained’.  Imagine an online marketplace for selling shoes, that’s been having a problem with people trying to sell other things on the site – bikes… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2ZJzIr4

Biden Faces a Steep Challenge to Unite Democracies on Tech

With tech policy, sorting the world into democratic and authoritarian buckets is far trickier than it sounds. from Ideas Latest https://ift.tt/2MlY2fJ

Learn to market to Pinterest’s 400 plus million monthly active users with the help of these courses

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TLDR: The 2021 Pinterest Marketing and Growth Bundle is the top to bottom primer on using the unique social media platform to drive brand awareness and increase sales. Facebook is where all the people are. Twitter is where the world fires off hot takes. Instagram is where everyone posts their selfies. YouTube is video, video, video. So in a crowded social media landscape with all these titans vying for your time and attention as a brand manager, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Pinterest didn’t immediately bubble to the top of your to-do list.  That, however, would be a mistake.… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2ZLKJIu

Playing HTML5 games on Chrome for Android is gonna get a lot easier

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A lot of my colleagues are serious gamers, but I’m a basic human who enjoys a lot of silly arcade games. I was happy when Google‘s Area 120 team announced GameSnacks last year— a project to bring lightweight HTML5 games to low-powered Android devices. This was a way for many users with low connectivity to enjoy some casual games. At the time of launch, you could either go to the project’s site to play these games, or Indonesia’s GoJek app where it was integrated. Google has now understood that this might not be the best way to find these games, so… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Android from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3bFUJsu

I Woke Up to Australia's Newsless News Feed

For now, Facebook has walked back its clumsy surprise ban on news content. But the social media giant has made clear: It can take news away again. from Ideas Latest https://ift.tt/3so56aZ

EVs will get hit by new taxes, and I’m not sure what we can do about it

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Despite upfront costs, owning and running an electric vehicle is quite often cheaper than an equivalent gasoline vehicle. For owners, this is undeniably good news. But governments around the world are losing tax money. According to research from The Sunday Times Driving, the UK government is losing £1,000 in fuel duty and emissions-based taxes in the first year when someone switches to an EV. This isn’t surprising when we consider that more than 50% of petrol’s cost is duty and tax. As soon as demand for petrol and diesel falls, the government’s purse strings tighten. The report says that when… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3pNaa6T

Hackers Tied to Russia's GRU Targeted the US Grid for Years

A Sandworm-adjacent group has successfully breached US critical infrastructure a handful of times, according to new findings from the security firm Dragos. from Security Latest https://ift.tt/3aOvJjc

Tesla owners still love their cars despite recalls and build quality issues

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This article was originally published by Michael Coates on Clean Fleet Report, a publication that gives its readers the information they need to move to cars and trucks with best fuel economy, including electric cars, fuel cells, plug-in hybrids, hybrids and advanced diesel and gasoline engines. A just-released Consumer Reports survey puts all four Tesla models in its Top 10 most satisfying vehicles. The rankings covered value, comfort, driving, cabin storage, in-car electronics, and styling. Honda Insight Hybrid is the only electrified vehicle besides Tesla to show up in the Top 5 of any of those categories (styling). On the other hand, the least… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3bAYhMh

If God broke the laws of physics, would scientists even notice?

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I still believed in God (I am now an atheist) when I heard the following question at a seminar, first posed by Einstein, and was stunned by its elegance and depth: ‘If there is a God who created the entire universe and ALL of its laws of physics, does God follow God’s own laws? Or can God supersede his own laws, such as traveling faster than the speed of light and thus being able to be in two different places at the same time?’ Could the answer help us prove whether or not God exists or is this where scientific… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3r2MyNn

Tony Hawk’s coming to Switch is amazing news — but the next-gen upgrades? Lame, dude

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Here’s some amazing news Nintendo fans: at last we’ll get Tony Hawk’s on the Switch. The Pro Skater 1+2 remaster was one of 2020’s best games, and its arcade stylings will slot perfectly on the console. There’s an issue though: previous owners of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 remaster are getting shafted — especially on Xbox. But let’s start with the good news. All this was announced in a Tweet from Activision: Get ready to drop in and take #THPS 1+2 to the next level on New Platforms 🛹 🙌 Coming to PS5™, Xbox Series X|S – March 26… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3upTnKJ

Here’s why your SaaS startup should buy, not build

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When I launched my startup, I was in the driving seat every minute of every day. Early on, when it was just me, my co-founders, and a stack of pizza boxes, I had ownership of every decision that got made. It was hard to imagine taking a less hands-on approach, or delegating important decisions to others — but as the company grew I learned, as every boss must, that sharing power was the only way to succeed.  It’s the same, in many ways, when it comes to innovation. Early on, it’s tempting to do everything internally: if your product needs a… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3bxWtnw

US Postal Service gets a military tank-maker to create ‘ugly’ new delivery EVs

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Yeah, you read that headline correctly. Even though it seems to make absolutely no sense, it’s 2021 and the world is on fire, so let’s see what’s happening. The United States Postal Service announced yesterday that it has signed, sealed, and delivered a 10-year-long, multi-billion dollar contract to Oshkosh Defense to electrify its vehicle fleet Over its life, the deal is expected to be worth around $6 billion, Autoblog reports. For the uninitiated, Oshkosh Defense is a military vehicle maker that usually produces armored vehicles for warzones. Clearly, it’s the perfect fit for delivering parcels to houses along America’s suburban… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2Ml4hAr

Microbes grown on Mars’ ruddy crust hint at signs of life

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Billions of years ago, Mars was home to oceans, rivers, and seas. During this ancient era of the Red Planet, atmospheric pressures and temperatures were higher than today, making Mars a far more temperate world than the one we know in our modern age. Today, we search for signs of any ancient life that may have once graced the surface of the Red Planet. The Perseverance rover set down on the surface of the Red Planet on February 18, in search of Martian water and signs of ancient life. Life utilizes the resources it has available, and such ancient life on Mars would have… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3byzf0u

Firefox 86 introduces ‘total cookie protection’ — should you care?

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Mozilla is now rolling out Firefox 86 for desktop — Macs, Windows, and Linux systems. The browser update brings features such as multiple picture-in-picture mode, and While these features are nice, Firefox 86 also brings total cookie protection, and that’s very important for your privacy. How will it benefit you? Usually, a website uses cookies to remember your preferences, and other websites or advertisers access that data to target you with specific ads. That’s how when you search for shoes on Amazon, you get ads for shoes on other sites. Firefox 86’s new Total Cookie Protection prevents one site from reading… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Firefox from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2NCTXUR

Before you pay for Spotify HiFi, try to pass this lossless audio test

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Spotify yesterday announced a ‘HiFi’ upgrade tier for its streaming service that provides lossless audio, promising music free of compression artefacts. Although it won’t be available until later this year, Spotify HiFi promises “CD-quality” audio and aims to steer audiophiles away from other lossless streaming competition like Tidal and Deezer. But even if you consider yourself an audiophile, you probably don’t need to pay extra for lossless music. It’s true that most music streaming services compress audio in one way or another in order to minimize data usage, almost always leading to some lost information. There are ways of compressing music… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Spotify from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3r1Yf6Z

Google announces a bunch of new features coming to Android before version 12

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Google may be hard at work on Android 12, but you won’t have to wait that long to get some new features on Android devices. The company today announced six new features coming to various devices running older versions of the mobile OS with a littany of independent updates. For people using Android Messages — the texting app included with Pixel phones and a few other devices approximating ‘stock’ Android — Google will now let you schedule messages to send at specific times. It can be use for reminding a friend about something important, wishing someone a happy birthday very… This story continues at The Next Web Or just read more coverage about: Android , Google from The Next Web https://ift.tt/3pGYXVC

Stunning astronomical study indicates our galaxy may be teeming with life

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The search for extraterrestrial life may not take us very far from home. Astronomers from the University of Copenhagen recently published an incredible study demonstrating there’s a high likelihood the Milky Way is absolutely flooded with potentially life-bearing planets. Published in Science Advances, the team’s paper entitled “A pebble accretion model for the formation of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System,” lays out and attempts to validate a theory that planets are formed by tiny, millimeter-sized pebbles massing together over time. According to the researchers: We show that a pebble accretion scenario for terrestrial planet formation provides explanations for… This story continues at The Next Web from The Next Web https://ift.tt/2NWisvX