Tech News

Proving you’ve been vaccinated might be as easy as showing an iPhone app 1 min read

Proving you’ve been vaccinated might be as easy as showing an iPhone app

Adiantku 2 months ago

As coronavirus vaccination campaigns have started in the US and other countries, health officials insist that people who receive the first dose return for the second on time.
Americans who are vaccinated will receive a vaccination card with details about the first dose and the next appointment.
Los Angeles County has partnered with a startup to create a digital vaccination card that can show up on an iPhone via the Apple Wallet app. An Android version of the app will also be available.

Vaccinations against the novel coronavirus are underway in several markets, where at least one vaccine candidate that completed Phase 3 trials has received emergency use authorization. The US has two drugs available, including the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, while most markets only have access to the former. Both vaccines offer very good protection against severe COVID-19, but they require two separate doses administered a few weeks apart. … Read the rest

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Why 2020 was a pivotal, contradictory year for facial recognition 1 min read

Why 2020 was a pivotal, contradictory year for facial recognition

Adiantku 2 months ago

America’s first confirmed wrongful arrest by facial recognition technology happened in January 2020. Robert Williams, a Black man, was arrested in his driveway just outside Detroit, with his wife and young daughter watching. He spent the night in jail. The next day in the questioning room, a detective slid a picture across the table to Williams of a different Black man who had been caught on video stealing watches from the boutique Shinola.

“Is this you?” he asked.

“No, that’s not me.” Williams replied.

The detective passed over another picture. “I guess this is not you either?”

Williams held the picture next to his face. It clearly wasn’t him. Williams said, “This is not me. I hope you don’t think all Black people look alike.”

“The computer says it’s you,” replied the detective.

The novel thing about the arrest of Robert Williams was not that it occurred, or that … Read the rest

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The political chief at Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropy is stepping down 1 min read

The political chief at Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropy is stepping down

Adiantku 2 months ago

Courtesy of The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Mike Troncoso is a former top aide to Kamala Harris, so this move is stirring speculation about a move to the White House.

The political chief of Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropy is leaving his post, Recode has learned, which is stirring some speculation that he could take on a new role with his former boss, Kamala Harris.

Mike Troncoso, once a top aide to Harris, is stepping down from his position as the head of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s Justice and Opportunity Initiatives (JOI), CZI confirmed to Recode. The leader of JOI is one of the top positions at the organization that Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, founded in 2015. As the head of JOI, Troncoso oversaw one of Silicon Valley’s biggest political advocacy operations that has spent hundreds of millions of dollars pushing for immigration reform, changes to the criminal justice system, and … Read the rest

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‘Space architects’ complete two-month stay in Arctic shelter to simulate moon mission 1 min read

‘Space architects’ complete two-month stay in Arctic shelter to simulate moon mission

Adiantku 2 months ago

Sebastian Aristotelis and Karl-Johan Sørensen spent two months in Greenland to test their creation (Credits: SAGA Space Architects/Cover Image)

A pair of Danish architects have emerged from a two-month stay in the frigid wilderness of Greenland in a shelter they designed themselves.

The pair wanted to test out the origami-style folding ‘Lunark’ shelter in conditions that closely simulated life on the surface of the moon.

Sebastian Aristotelis and Karl-Johan Sørensen are part of a design firm called SAGA Space Architects and their mission is to ‘design and build architecture for outer space’.

The idea behind the folding shelter is that it takes up minimum room on a spaceship but can expand once the astronauts reach their destination. The structure weighs 1,700kg and expands out from 2.8 cubic metres to a sizable 17.1 cubic metres.

The shelter is capable of surviving temperatures of -45 degrees Celcius. In Greenland, the temperature … Read the rest

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What happens for the Animal Crossing New Year's event? 1 min read

What happens for the Animal Crossing New Year's event?

Adiantku 2 months ago

Ring in the new year with Isabelle, Tom Nook, and your villagers.

It’s hard to believe that another year is drawing to a close. What better way to ring in the new year than by celebrating with one of the best Nintendo Switch games? Within Animal Crossing, you’ll experience a countdown followed by a fireworks display and will have the option to purchase festive items to celebrate with your villagers. Here’s everything you need to know about celebrating the Animal Crossing New Year.

When does the Animal Crossing New Year’s event start?

On December 31st at 5AM your local time, Tom Nook and Isabelle can be found wandering around the Resident Services plaza preparing for the nights festivities. However, the big celebration won’t start until 11PM

… Read the rest ...

Here’s how you can save $60 on the Galaxy S21 before it’s even unveiled 1 min read

Here’s how you can save $60 on the Galaxy S21 before it’s even unveiled

Adiantku 2 months ago

The Galaxy S21 series will be unveiled in mid-January, with Samsung expected to announce the press event soon.
Samsung has quietly launched a Galaxy S21 deal that lets people save $60 on their upcoming preorder by doing a simple thing right now.
Buyers can register for preorders within the Samsung Shop app and take advantage of the extra saving when placing the order for one of the three Galaxy S21 phones.

The Galaxy S21 series will be unveiled in less than three weeks, according to most leaks. And the Galaxy S and Note leaks that precede the launch of the latest Galaxy flagship are almost always correct. We’ve already seen a large number of Galaxy S21 rumors and leaks so far, a clear indication that the launch is indeed imminent. From design renders to actual photos and videos of S21 prototypes that are in testing; from surprising hardware hints to … Read the rest

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Joe Biden has an opportunity to bolster how we view Earth from space 1 min read

Joe Biden has an opportunity to bolster how we view Earth from space

Adiantku 2 months ago

When Joe Biden takes over the US presidency on January 20, 2021, he intends to make climate change a centerpiece of his administration. As well as rejoining the Paris agreement, reinforcing the Clean Air Act, and restoring the Clean Power Plan, he will also have an opportunity to strengthen climate research.

One way he can do that is by bolstering Earth observation (EO) programs—the orbital satellites that support much of the world’s climate science.

NASA and NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) operate more than a dozen Earth observation missions from orbit, several of them in collaboration with other countries. Many, like the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) program, directly observe changes in the weather to help in forecasting. Others, like the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) satellite, measure rising sea levels caused by glacier melt. Still others are less focused on studying climate specifically but … Read the rest

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The year we gave up on privacy 1 min read

The year we gave up on privacy

Adiantku 2 months ago

Christina Animashaun/Vox

Our lives moved online in 2020. Too bad privacy laws didn’t.

As a digital privacy reporter, I try to avoid sites and services that invade my privacy, collect my data, and track my actions. Then the pandemic came, and I threw most of that out the window. You probably did, too.

I gave away tons of personal data to get the things I needed. Food came from grocery and restaurant delivery services. Everything else — clothes, kitchen tools, a vanity ring light for Zoom calls, office furniture — came from online shopping platforms. I took an Uber instead of public transportation. Zoom became my primary means of communication with most of my coworkers, friends, and family. I attended virtual birthdays and funerals. Therapy was conducted over FaceTime. I downloaded my state’s digital contact tracing tool as soon as it was offered. I put a camera inside my … Read the rest

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New mineral found on 220-year-old rock mined in Cornwall 1 min read

New mineral found on 220-year-old rock mined in Cornwall

Adiantku 2 months ago

The new mineral was found embedded in a rock mined over 200 years ago (SWNS)

A new species of mineral has been discovered by scientists who analysed a rock mined in Cornwall 220 years ago – and now named after the county.

The mineral was discovered by a team of scientists from the Natural History Museum in London including mineralogist Mike Rumsey.

He was studying a rock taken from the Wheal Gorland mine in St Day, a former mining area near Redruth.

The new mineral, which is dark green in colour, has been named kernowite after the south west county, after the word Kernow – the Cornish word for Cornwall.

Mike, principal curator of minerals at the museum, said: ‘I was investigating a mineral called liroconite so we could curate it properly, but also because it’s my favourite mineral.

‘Liroconite is this beautiful, gorgeous bright blue mineral that comes from … Read the rest

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Learn how to pair wireless headphones to your Nintendo Switch 1 min read

Learn how to pair wireless headphones to your Nintendo Switch

Adiantku 2 months ago

One great thing about the Nintendo Switch is that you can game anywhere you’d like. However, if you’re on the subway or a bus, you don’t want your game audio to disturb those around you. You could use the headphone jack, but then the wire gets tangled between you and the Switch. Fortunately, there’s a way to game on-the-go and use the best wireless headphones for Nintendo Switch. Here’s how to connect your Bluetooth headphones with the Nintendo Switch!

The Switch doesn’t let users pair Bluetooth headphones directly to it, so you’ll need a workaround using either a USB-C or headphone jack adapter. It’s important to note that your headphones’ pairing method will vary, so make sure to consult the manual that came with both your headphones and the adapter to ensure you can pair the devices properly.

Products used in this guide

Via USB-C port: GuliKit Route Air

… Read the rest ...

Tech News

Proving you’ve been vaccinated might be as easy as showing an iPhone app

Why 2020 was a pivotal, contradictory year for facial recognition

The political chief at Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropy is stepping down

‘Space architects’ complete two-month stay in Arctic shelter to simulate moon mission

What happens for the Animal Crossing New Year's event?

When does the Animal Crossing New Year’s event start?

Here’s how you can save $60 on the Galaxy S21 before it’s even unveiled

Joe Biden has an opportunity to bolster how we view Earth from space

The year we gave up on privacy

New mineral found on 220-year-old rock mined in Cornwall

Learn how to pair wireless headphones to your Nintendo Switch

Products used in this guide

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