Russia’s state media watchdog will require Netflix to offer state television channels to its Russian customers after it added the U.S.-based streaming service to its register of “audio-visual services” this week. From a report: Roskomnadzor’s register,…
Omicron is Spreading at Lightning Speed. Scientists Are Trying To Figure Out Why
NPR reports: In late November, more than 110 people gathered at a crowded Christmas party at a restaurant in Oslo. Most of the guests were fully vaccinated. One had returned from South Africa just a few days earlier and was unknowingly carrying the omi…
Washington State To Require Internet Service Disclosure When Selling House in New Year
It’s hard to imagine home life without the internet, particularly amid the coronavirus pandemic. Now a law going into effect in Washington state is acknowledging that. CNET News: Starting in the new year, home sellers in Washington will be required to …
Studies Suggest Why Omicron Is Less Severe: It Spares the Lungs
A spate of new studies on lab animals and human tissues are providing the first indication of why the Omicron variant causes milder disease than previous versions of the coronavirus. From a report: In studies on mice and hamsters, Omicron produced less…
Streaming Wars Drive Media Groups To Spend More Than $100 Billion on New Content
The top eight US media groups plan to spend at least $115bn on new movies and television shows next year in pursuit of a video streaming business that loses money for most of them. From a report: The huge investment outlays come amid concerns that it w…
CES’s Justification for Keeping the Show IRL is Absolutely Unhinged
An anonymous reader shares a report: Somehow CES 2022 is still happening in a little over a week, despite the single-largest surge in COVID-19 cases ever recorded in the United States. The electronics show will be far less enormous than usual, but not …
Amazing / Strange Things Scientists Calculated in 2021
fahrbot-bot writes: The world is full of beautiful equations, numbers and calculations. From counting beads as toddlers to managing finances as adults, we use math every day. But scientists often go beyond these quotidian forms of counting, to measure,…
A Program for Cheaper Internet for Low-Income Americans Launches Today
Starting today, eligible US residents can apply for help with their internet bills under the new Affordable Connectivity Program. The program launched today with $14.2 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law passed in November. From a report: Ho…
Two NFT Copycats Are Fighting Over Which is the Real Fake Bored Ape Yacht Club
A pair of non-fungible token projects are testing the boundary between plagiarism and parody. From a report: Digital marketplace OpenSea has banned the PHAYC and Phunky Ape Yacht Club (or PAYC) collections, both of which are based on the same gimmick: …
Are Apple AirTags Being Used To Track People and Steal Cars?
Privacy groups sounded alarms about the coin-sized location-tracking devices when they were introduced. Now people are concerned those fears are being realized. From a report: On a Sunday night in September, Ashley Estrada was at a friend’s home in Los…