An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. unveiled a sodium-ion battery Thursday, a type of lower-density cell that uses cheaper raw materials than batteries made from lithium-ion metals. As well as a first…
The European Union Pulls Ahead of the United States In Vaccinations
gollum123 shares a report from The New York Times: The 27 member states of the European Union altogether have now administered more coronavirus vaccine doses per 100 people than the United States, in another sign that inoculations across the bloc have …
Google Bans ‘Sugar Daddy’ Apps From Play Store
Google’s updated its inappropriate content policy to ban “compensated sexual relationships” — i.e., sugar daddy or sugar dating apps. Ryne Hager writes via Android Police: If somehow you aren’t familiar with the term, a “sugar daddy” is more than a ca…
48 Advocacy Groups Call On the FTC To Ban Amazon Surveillance
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: On Thursday, a coalition of 48 civil rights and advocacy groups organized by Athena asked the Federal Trade Commission to exercise its rulemaking authority by banning corporate facial surveillance t…
Pfizer Vaccine Effectiveness Drops To 84 Percent After Six Months, Study Finds
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Hill: The effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine fell from 96 percent to 84 percent over six months, according to data released on Wednesday. The preprint study funded by the companies determi…
Amazon’s Older Kindles Will Start To Lose Their Internet Access In December
Amazon’s Kindle e-readers with built-in 3G will begin to lose the ability to connect to the internet on their own in the US in December, according to an email sent to customers on Wednesday. The Verge reports: The change is due to mobile carriers trans…
First Detection of Light From Behind a Black Hole
Stanford University astrophysicist Dan Wilkins has spotted the first detection of light from behind a black hole. Phys.Org reports: “Any light that goes into that black hole doesn’t come out, so we shouldn’t be able to see anything that’s behind the bl…
Apple Closing Down Internal Slack Channels Where Employees Debate Remote Work
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Cult of Mac: Apple is closing down internal Slack channels to stop employees discussing remote working options, reports Zoe Schiffer from The Verge. Many Cupertino employees are currently engaged in a Cold War o…
‘World’s Most Powerful Tidal Turbine’ Starts To Export Power To the Grid
A tidal turbine weighing 680 metric tons and dubbed “the world’s most powerful” has started grid-connected power generation at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, an archipelago located north of mainland Scotland. CNBC reports: In an announcem…
Facebook Warns Growth To ‘Decelerate Significantly’, Mandates Vaccine For US Staff
Facebook said on Wednseday it expects revenue growth to “decelerate significantly.” It also announced that it would require anyone working at its U.S. offices to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Google announced a similar policy earlier this morning. Re…