TechCrunch reports: Alphabet’s Loon was a stratospheric moonshot that saw the company fly high-altitude balloons to provide cellular network coverage to target areas. The project broke a lot of new ground, including developing technology that enabled b…
German IT Security Watchdog Examines Xiaomi Mobile Phone
Germany’s federal cybersecurity watchdog, the BSI, is conducting a technical examination of a mobile phone manufactured by China’s Xiaomi, a spokesperson for the interior ministry told Reuters on Wednesday. From the report: The spokesperson did not pro…
Chromebook Demand is Plummeting as the Pandemic Eases
A global deceleration of laptop sales is being linked in a new report from market research firm Trendforce to increasing vaccination rates and a corresponding decrease in remote work and remote learning. From a report: According to the findings, demand…
Blue Origin ‘Gambled’ With Its Moon Lander Pricing, NASA Says in Legal Documents
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin “gambled” with its Moon lander proposal last year by hoping NASA would be willing to negotiate its $5.9 billion price tag, agency attorneys argued in blunt legal filings obtained by The Verge. From a report: NASA, cash-strapped …
School Reopenings Stymie Teens’ Reseller Gigs
It turns out school reopenings are disrupting the cash flow of industrious teenagers who spent the pandemic scooping up in-demand products via bots and reselling them for a hefty profit. From a report: “Yes, I am back in school. Yea, it’s very annoying…
Phone Companies Must Now Block Carriers That Didn’t Meet FCC Robocall Deadline
In a new milestone for the US government’s anti-robocall efforts, phone companies are now prohibited from accepting calls from providers that did not comply with a Federal Communications Commission deadline that passed this week. From a report: “Beginn…
Google Search’s Next Phase: Context is King
At its Search On event today, Google introduced several new features that, taken together, are its strongest attempts yet to get people to do more than type a few words into a search box. From a report: By leveraging its new Multitask Unified Model (MU…
Gene Editing ‘Would Allow Us To Create Hardier Farm Breeds’
Leading UK researchers, vets and farmers have urged ministers to free livestock science of unnecessary legal curbs as the country prepares, post-Brexit, to ease gene-editing rules. Such a move would allow the creation of new breeds of animals resistant…
Russian Authorities Arrest Cybersecurity Giant Group-IB’s CEO on Treason Charges
Russian authorities have arrested and detained Ilya Sachkov, the co-founder and chief executive of Group-IB — one of the biggest cybersecurity companies in the country — on charges of treason. From a report: Details about Sachkov’s detention remain u…
A New ‘Standalone’ Valve VR Headset Teased by Deep SteamVR File Drive
What’s in the future for VR headsets made by Valve, which launched the pricey, bulky, and impressive Valve Index in August 2019? The best information in the wild right now seems to be coming from Valve itself: data-mining discoveries and patent applica…