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U.S. President Donald Trump was "permanently suspended" from Twitter Friday afternoon. "After close review of recent Tweets from the account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence," reads Twitter's announcement. The announcement has since caused a new word to trend on Twitter: "Permanently." Meanwhile, Reddit has banned r/donaldtrump for encouraging and glorifying violence after Wednesday's mob attack on the US Capitol. The Verge reports: Axios reporter Sara Fischer first reported the news, noting that the unofficial pro-Trump forum had been given multiple warnings. A Reddit splash page says the subreddit was "banned due to a violation of Reddit's rules against inciting violence." The r/donaldtrump forum had approximately 52,000 members before its ban, according to an Internet Archive snapshot. "Reddit's site-wide policies prohibit content that promotes hate, or encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence against groups of people or individuals. In accordance with this, we have been proactively reaching out to moderators to remind them of our policies and to offer support or resources as needed," a Reddit spokesperson tells The Verge. "We have also taken action to ban the community r/donaldtrump given repeated policy violations in recent days regarding the violence at the US Capitol."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: Analysts from security firm Trend Micro said in a report today that they've spotted a malware botnet that collects and steals Docker and AWS credentials. Researchers have linked the botnet to a cybercrime operation known as TeamTNT; a group first spotted over the 2020 summer installing cryptocurrency-mining malware on misconfigured container platforms. Initial reports at the time said that TeamTNT was breaching container platforms by looking for Docker systems that were exposing their management API port online without a password. Researchers said the TeamTNT group would access exposed Docker containers, install a crypto-mining malware, but also steal credentials for Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers in order to pivot to a company's other IT systems to infect even more servers and deploy more crypto-miners. At the time, researchers said that TeamTNT was the first crypto-mining botnet that implemented a feature dedicated to collecting and stealing AWS credentials. But in a report today, Trend Micro researchers said that the TeamTNT gang's malware code had received considerable updates since it was first spotted last summer. TeamTNT has now also added a feature to collect Docker API credentials, on top of the AWS creds-stealing code. This feature is most likely used on container platforms where the botnet infects hosts using other entry points than its original Docker API port scanning feature.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

phalse phace writes: After days of advanced talks to sell Quibi's content library to Roku, the companies have finally reached a deal. According to Deadline, Roku will acquire most of Quibi's content for less than $100 million. "The acquisition covers most of the Quibi library, but some daily news shows are not part of the package," reports Deadline. "A key draw for Roku is the talent, a roster including Idris Elba, Kevin Hart, Liam Hemsworth, Anna Kendrick, Nicole Richie, Chrissy Teigen and Lena Waithe. The lineup includes titles like Most Dangerous Game, Dummy and Murder House Flip. The programming will be available for free starting later this year. Shows will have advertising, as they did on the $5-a-month Quibi service, and they will be housed on the Roku Channel." Earlier today, Roku says it sold more smart TVs in the U.S. in 2020 than competitors like Samsung, LG and Vizio, becoming the biggest smart TV platform in North America.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A new study provides early evidence that a Covid-19 vaccine might be effective against two new coronavirus strains first identified in South Africa and the UK, despite a concerning mutation. CNN reports: The two strains share a mutation known as N501Y that scientists worry could allow the virus to evade the immune protection generated by a vaccine. In research posted online Thursday, scientists found that antibodies from people who had received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine showed "no reduction in neutralization activity" against a version of the virus that carries the N501Y mutation, which they created in the lab. In order to do this, researchers tested the virus against blood from 20 people who had received two doses of the vaccine as part of a clinical trial. The N501Y mutation is located in the coronavirus' spike protein -- the same structure targeted by vaccines. The virus uses this protein to enter the cells it attacks. This particular mutation appears to help the virus attach to human cells, which may partly explain why these new strains appear to be more transmissible. But it is just one of many mutations in both strains that scientists have worried could make the virus less susceptible to vaccines or treatments. The study -- conducted by researchers at Pfizer and the University of Texas Medical Branch -- does not test the full array of these mutation, nor has it been peer-reviewed.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: In the months since a coalition of app-based gig companies successfully passed Prop 22 in California, exempting themselves from reclassifying their workers as employees, DoorDash has been silently passing costs onto consumers. The company-funded Yes on Prop 22 campaign claimed that not passing the ballot initiative would result in higher prices for consumers, and in early December, news first broke that gig companies would be charging more anyway to cover the cost of benefits promised in Prop 22 such as a healthcare stipend and a minimum pay guarantee. It's also not clear whether these new benefits warrant price hikes as an October 2019 study by the Berkeley Labor Center of Proposition 22 found that driver pay would come out to $5.64 an hour. Nonetheless, companies in the coalition signaled they'd have to pass costs onto consumers instead of absorbing them into their already unprofitable enterprises. Now, DoorDash is raising its service fee to 15 percent in California, which according to an in-app description "helps us operate DoorDash & provide a minimum pay guarantee to California Dashers. Service fees are, according to DoorDash, also calibrated by market demand and Motherboard has seen receipts where the service fee jumped as high as 21 percent. A DoorDash spokesperson told Motherboard that the company is raising fee percentages for orders in California to cover Prop 22 and is keeping a close eye on the impact of these various price hikes and fee increases, adjusting them when necessary. It's important to remember, however, that for DoorDash and other companies, that usually means when a policy is affecting the gig economy's schemes to realize previously illegal profits.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A laptop was stolen from the office of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, one of her aides said on Friday. From a report: Drew Hammill, an aide to Democrat Pelosi, said on Twitter that the laptop belonged to a conference room and was used for presentations. He declined to offer further details. The theft of electronic devices from congressional offices has been a persistent worry following the invasion by pro-Trump followers. They were encouraged by Republican President Donald Trump at a rally beforehand to march to the Capitol while Congress was certifying Democrat Joe Biden's Nov. 3 election win. Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, said on Twitter on Thursday that a laptop was taken from his office.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple's App Store grossed more than $64 billion in 2020, according to an analysis by CNBC. From a report: That's up from an estimated $50 billion in 2019 and $48.5 billion in 2018, according to the same analysis, suggesting that App Store sales growth accelerated strongly during the Covid-19 pandemic, as people sheltered at home and spent more time and money on apps and games. App Store revenue grew 28% in 2020, up from 3.1% growth in 2019, according to CNBCâ(TM)s analysis. Apple's App Store is a core growth area for the company. It's reported as part of Apple's Services division, which reported $53.7 billion in sales in Apple's fiscal 2020, which ended in September. The money that Apple makes from its App Store has become a flash point for critics of Apple which argue it has too much power. Apple charges 30% for digital sales through its platform, with a few exceptions. Apple recently altered its fee structure, and now it only takes a 15% cut from companies that generate less than $1 million in the App Store.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A duo of French security researchers has discovered a vulnerability impacting chips used inside Google Titan and YubiKey hardware security keys. From a report: The vulnerability allows threat actors to recover the primary encryption key used by the hardware security key to generate cryptographic tokens for two-factor authentication (2FA) operations. Once obtained, the two security researchers say the encryption key, an ECDSA private key, would allow threat actors to clone Titan, YubiKey, and other keys to bypass 2FA procedures. However, while the attack sounds disastrous for Google and Yubico security key owners, its severity is not what it seems. In a 60-page PDF report, Victor Lomne and Thomas Roche, researchers with Montpellier-based NinjaLab, explain the intricacies of the attack, also tracked as CVE-2021-3011. For starters, the attack won't work remotely against a device, over the internet, or over a local network. To exploit any Google Titan or Yubico security key, an attacker would first need to get their hands on a security key in the first place.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Amazon has announced that it has discontinued its Amazon Pantry services (originally known as Prime Pantry), instead rolling those household goods and shelf-stable pantry items into the main Amazon website where they can be ordered alongside the rest of Amazon's products. From a report: Originally launched back in 2014, Pantry worked differently from most Amazon orders. Instead of following the usual Amazon delivery rules, Pantry orders charged customers a flat $5.99 shipping fee per box of groceries, which could be filled with up to 45 pounds of products or up to four cubic feet of stuff (whichever limit customers reached first). The focus of the program was to make it easier to stock up on everyday products that would otherwise be bulky or expensive to ship, like bottled water, paper goods, flour, canned food items, boxes of cereal, and more.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A semiconductor shortage is dragging on some of the world's biggest auto manufacturers, costing Daimler, Nissan Motor, Honda Motor and Ford Motor production of a range of cars. From a report: Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler joined its German peer Volkswagen AG in announcing it's affected by the industrywide supply bottleneck, without quantifying the impact. Honda said it will cut domestic output by about 4,000 cars this month at one of its factories in Japan, while Nissan is adjusting production of its Note hatchback model. Ford is idling a sport-utility vehicle factory in Kentucky next week, pulling forward previously planned downtime due to the chip shortage. VW, the world's biggest carmaker, announced last month that it would need to adjust first-quarter manufacturing plans around the globe because of the shortage. The company said chipmakers reassigned some of their production capacity to consumer electronics and other sectors last year and were caught off guard by surprisingly resilient auto demand. The amount of VW car output lost could be in the low six-digit range, according to people familiar with the matter.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Twitter has suspended the account of Sci-Hub, a site that offers a free gateway to paywalled research. The site is accused of violating the counterfeit policy of the social media platform. However, founder Alexandra Elbakyan believes that this is an effort to silence the growing support amidst a high profile court case in India. From a report: In recent weeks, Sci-Hub has become the focus of a high-profile lawsuit in India where Elsevier, Wiley, and American Chemical Society want the site blocked. The case isn't as straightforward as in other countries, in part because access to Sci-Hub is seen as vital by many local academics. Earlier this week, the Indian High Court declared the case an "issue of public importance," inviting experts and scientists to testify on the matter. Meanwhile, however, the pressure on Sci-Hub grows. This morning, Sci-Hub founder Alexandra Elbakyan informed us that Twitter has suspended the site's official account, which had over 185k followers and operated without notable issues for nine years. Elbakyan believes that it may be directly related to the legal action in India. "It happened right after Indian scientists revolted against Elsevier and other academic publishers after Sci-Hub posted on Twitter about the danger of being blocked -- thousands of people spoke up against this on Twitter. Now Twitter said to all of them, SHUT UP!" Elbakyan adds.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Electric vehicle maker Tesla surpassed Facebook by market capitalization after markets opened Friday. From a report: Tesla's stock jumped about 5.5% at 9:03 a.m. ET to give it a market cap of $802.6 billion, while Facebook stock dipped. Facebook now has a market cap of about $755.8 billion. The jump makes Elon Musk's automotive venture the fifth biggest company in the large-cap benchmark when counting the share classes of Alphabet together. It now just trails Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet. While the mark is largely symbolic, it signifies Tesla's dramatic rise over just a short period of time. Tesla became the first $100 billion publicly listed U.S. carmaker in January 2019. Just 10 months later, the company surpassed a $500 billion market cap. The stock gained more than 700% in 2020. The company joined the S&P 500 in December, wrapping up a strong year of performances. Led by Musk, Tesla has turned in five consecutive profitable quarters. Tesla delivered 499,550 vehicles in the year, and is currently building new factories in Austin, Texas and Brandenburg, Germany, among other efforts to grow its production and sales volume.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Roku's bet on smart TVs is paying off: Seven years after the company first began licensing its operating system to TV manufacturers, it has become a market leader in North America. Roku and its hardware partners sold more smart TVs in the U.S. in 2020 than competitors like Samsung, LG and Vizio, according to data from the NPD Group released by Roku on Friday. From a report: Roku TVs had a 38% market share in the U.S. and a 31% market share in Canada, according to NPD's data. Roku also announced earlier this week that it had ended 2020 with 51.2 million active accounts, adding around 14 million accounts over the past 12 months. Altogether, consumers streamed 58.7 billion hours of entertainment through their Roku devices in 2020, according to a news release. Both data points demonstrate how much of a force the company has become in North America, giving it even more power in negotiations with media companies looking to run their services on Roku streaming sticks and TVs. However, they also highlight how much Roku's business has been solely focused on the TV space, giving competitors a chance to dominate other smart device categories. After first making a name for itself with its streaming boxes, Roku began licensing its operating system to TV manufacturers in 2014, with one of its early licensing partners including China's TCL, then virtually unknown in North America. With affordable TV sets and a UI that emphasized simplicity over fancy new features, TCL and Roku managed to grow their market share year after year; at the end of 2019, every third smart TV sold in the U.S. was running Roku's operating system.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google is the U.K.'s first big post-Brexit antitrust target as regulators opened a probe into the company's planned changes to curb publishers' collection of advertising data. From a report: The Competition and Markets Authority said it's investigating Google's so-called privacy sandbox changes that could "undermine the ability of publishers to generate revenue and undermine competition in digital advertising, entrenching Google's market power." The probe adds to Google's legal headaches around the world. The Mountain View, California-based company faces lawsuits from the U.S. Department of Justice and multiple states over allegedly anticompetitive practices. The U.K. probe focuses on Google's decision last year to phase out third-party cookies that help advertisers monitor customers' browsing habits and pinpoint the effectiveness of different advertising. Google's Chrome is the dominant web browser and the changes will be followed by rival products based on Google technology, such as Microsoft's Edge.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Krebs On Security: The ongoing breach affecting thousands of organizations that relied on backdoored products by network software firm SolarWinds may have jeopardized the privacy of countless sealed court documents on file with the U.S. federal court system, according to a memo released Wednesday by the Administrative Office (AO) of the U.S. Courts. The judicial branch agency said it will be deploying more stringent controls for receiving and storing sensitive documents filed with the federal courts, following a discovery that its own systems were compromised as part of the SolarWinds supply chain attack. That intrusion involved malicious code being surreptitiously inserted into updates shipped by SolarWinds for some 18,000 users of its Orion network management software as far back as March 2020. "The AO is working with the Department of Homeland Security on a security audit relating to vulnerabilities in the Judiciary's Case Management/Electronic Case Files system (CM/ECF) that greatly risk compromising highly sensitive non-public documents stored on CM/ECF, particularly sealed filings," the agency said in a statement published Jan. 6. "An apparent compromise of the confidentiality of the CM/ECF system due to these discovered vulnerabilities currently is under investigation," the statement continues. "Due to the nature of the attacks, the review of this matter and its impact is ongoing." The AO declined to comment on specific questions about their breach disclosure. But a source close to the investigation told KrebsOnSecurity that the federal court document system was "hit hard," by the SolarWinds attackers, which multiple U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies have attributed as "likely Russian in origin." The source said the intruders behind the SolarWinds compromise seeded the AO's network with a second stage "Teardrop" malware that went beyond the "Sunburst" malicious software update that was opportunistically pushed out to all 18,000 customers using the compromised Orion software. This suggests the attackers were targeting the agency for deeper access to its networks and communications. The report notes that AO's court document system "may contain highly sensitive information, including intellectual property and trade secrets, or even the identities of confidential informants." While it doesn't hold documents that are classified for national security reasons, "the system is full of sensitive sealed filings -- such as subpoenas for email records and so-called 'trap and trace' requests that law enforcement officials use to determine with whom a suspect is communicating via phone, when and for how long."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

phalse phace shares a report from The Wall Street Journal: Boeing Co. will pay $2.5 billion to resolve a Justice Department investigation and admit employees misled aviation about safety issues linked to two deadly crashes of its 737 MAX jet, U.S. authorities said. Federal prosecutors had been investigating the role of two Boeing employees who interacted with the Federal Aviation Administration about the design of the 737 MAX and how much pilot training would be required for the new model. The settlement includes a $243 million fine as well as $2.2 billion in compensation to airline customers and families of the 346 people who perished in two MAX crashes. The plane maker was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., but will avoid prosecution on that charge as long as it avoids legal trouble for a period of three years. The deal also calls for Boeing to comply with any ongoing investigations, including probes by foreign law-enforcement and regulatory authorities, and to beef up compliance programs, according to its agreement with prosecutors.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor said it's in the early stages of discussions with Apple over potentially working together to develop a self-driving car. CNBC reports: "We understand that Apple is in discussion with a variety of global automakers, including Hyundai Motor. As the discussion is at its early stage, nothing has been decided," a representative from Hyundai Motor told CNBC's Chery Kang. The statement followed a local report from the Korea Economic Daily that said Apple suggested the tie-up and Hyundai Motor was reviewing the terms. The report said both electric vehicle production as well as battery development were included in the proposal, and that the car could potentially be released in 2027. The news from Hyundai comes just days after Reuters reported that Apple is aiming to begin producing a car as early as 2024. However, it contrasts a Bloomberg report suggesting development work is still at an early stage and it will take Apple at least half a decade to launch an autonomous, electric vehicle.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from New Atlas: One of the most remarkable "sixth" senses in the animal kingdom is magnetoreception -- the ability to detect magnetic fields -- but exactly how it works remains a mystery. Now, researchers in Japan may have found a crucial piece of the puzzle, making the first observations of live, unaltered cells responding to magnetic fields. Many animals are known to navigate by sensing the Earth's magnetic field, including birds, bats, eels, whales and, according to some studies, perhaps even humans. However, the exact mechanism at play in vertebrates isn't well understood. One hypothesis suggests it's the result of a symbiotic relationship between the animals and magnetic field-sensing bacteria. But the leading hypothesis involves chemical reactions induced in cells through what's called the radical pair mechanism. Essentially, if certain molecules are excited by light, electrons can jump between them to their neighbors. That can create pairs of molecules with a single electron each, known as a radical pair. If the electrons in those molecules have matching spin states, they will undergo chemical reactions slowly, and if they're opposites the reactions occur faster. Since magnetic fields can influence electron spin states, they could induce chemical reactions that change an animals' behavior. In the living cells of animals with magnetoreception, proteins called cryptochromes are thought to be the molecules that undergo this radical pair mechanism. And now, researchers at the University of Tokyo have observed cryptochromes responding to magnetic fields for the first time. The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The 28 fastest days on record (since 1960) all occurred in 2020, with Earth completing its revolutions around its axis milliseconds quicker than average. Live Science reports: That's not particularly alarming -- the planet's rotation varies slightly all the time, driven by variations in atmospheric pressure, winds, ocean currents and the movement of the core. But it is inconvenient for international timekeepers, who use ultra-accurate atomic clocks to meter out the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) by which everyone sets their clocks. When astronomical time, set by the time it takes the Earth to make one full rotation, deviates from UTC by more than 0.4 seconds, UTC gets an adjustment. Until now, these adjustments have consisted of adding a "leap second" to the year at the end of June or December, bringing astronomical time and atomic time back in line. These leap seconds were tacked on because the overall trend of Earth's rotation has been slowing since accurate satellite measurement began in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Since 1972, scientists have added leap seconds about every year-and-a-half, on average, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The last addition came in 2016, when on New Year's Eve at 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds, an extra "leap second" was added. However, according to Time and Date, the recent acceleration in Earth's spin has scientists talking for the first time about a negative leap second. Instead of adding a second, they might need to subtract one. That's because the average length of a day is 86,400 seconds, but an astronomical day in 2021 will clock in 0.05 milliseconds shorter, on average. Over the course of the year, that will add up to a 19 millisecond lag in atomic time.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

BBVA today told users of Simple -- the pioneering mobile and online banking app that it acquired for $117 million in 2014 -- that it is planning to shut down the service, moving accounts to BBVA's USA business in the process. TechCrunch reports: The move is part of an ongoing effort at BBVA -- which had been an active investor and acquirer of startups -- to streamline its business as it works on closing a merger with PNC. The latter bank announced in November last year that it would acquire the U.S. business of BBVA for $11.6 billion. In a note Simple sent out earlier today to users -- being shared on Twitter by a number of them -- the bank said that it will be transitioning their accounts to be serviced by BBVA USA, which already housed the accounts. "BBVA USA has made the strategic decision to close Simple," the note reads. "There is no immediate impact to your accounts at Simple and nothing you need to do at this time. Since your deposits are already housed at BBVA USA, they will remain in FDIC-insured accounts there, up to the applicable limits. In the future, your Simple account will become exclusively serviced by BBVA USA, but until then you can continue to access your account and your money through the Simple app or online at Simple.com. Users will receive more details in the future about the transition to BBVA, the note continued. It is unclear how many users Simple has currently. It had around 100,000 users when it was acquired back in 2014, and some might say that the startup was ahead of its time.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Facebook has dropped the "likes" tally from public pages used by artists, public officials and brands as part of a new redesign. The New York Post reports: Those pages will now only show follower count, which Facebook says is intended to make things simpler. "Unlike Likes, Followers of a Page represent the people who can receive updates from Pages, which helps give public figures a stronger indication of their fan base," the company said in a blog post. Facebook has also redesigned pages to have their own dedicated News Feeds, where they will be able to "discover and join conversations, follow trends, interact with peers and engage with fans."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Frontier Communications has agreed to expand its fiber-to-the-premises network and improve its poor service quality as part of a bankruptcy settlement in California. Frontier committed to deploy fiber to 350,000 homes and businesses within six years on a schedule that would require the first 100,000 by the end of 2022, 250,000 by the end of 2024, and the full 350,000 by year-end 2026. The settlement, filed in late December, is pending approval by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Frontier agreed to the terms with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), a union that represents Frontier employees; The Utility Reform Network (TURN), a consumer-advocacy group; and Cal Advocates, the public advocate office at CPUC. To ensure that Frontier doesn't build only in wealthy areas, the 350,000-location deployment must include 150,000 customer locations where Frontier estimates it would receive less than a 20 percent "internal rate of return." For those 150,000 locations, Frontier will have to consult with the CWA, TURN, Cal Advocates, and tribal government leaders "to discuss the potential areas for deployment, including tribal lands and tribal communities," the settlement said. "As part of the proposed settlement, Frontier will be required to spend at least $1.75 billion over the next four years on service quality and network enhancement projects, as well as provide a detailed plan with input from CWA, TURN and Cal Advocates that identifies needs like plant repair, maintenance, hiring, and how Frontier intends to address them," the CWA said in a press release last week. The union said it also "secured a commitment from Frontier to maintain its total employee technician staffing in California over the next three years, and to maintain ten call center locations across the state." Another settlement clause requires Frontier to spend $11.6 million over four years to deploy 25Mbps download speeds at 4,000 additional locations on tribal lands. The required upload speeds for this buildout are only 2Mbps, so it likely wouldn't involve fiber-to-the-home. But tribal areas should get some fiber as part of Frontier's requirement to deploy at 150,000 low "rate of return" areas. Frontier agreed to temporary price controls, as it "will not increase residential rates for copper-based standalone voice services, fiber-based standalone basic voice service, copper-based broadband services, and copper-based voice/broadband bundles through December 31, 2021," the settlement said. Frontier will also have to "provide a host of detailed, recurring reports" on network spending, service quality, and broadband commitments to help advocacy groups and the state monitor the company's compliance.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Japan's NEC Corp. says face marks aren't an obstacle to its facial recognition tech. Mashable reports: The Japanese company claims its new facial recognition system can identify people with face masks in less than one second, with an accuracy rate higher than 99.9 percent. The system works by closely examining the parts of a person's face not covered by a mask, such as the eyes and surrounding areas. It does require the person to submit a photo in advance, though. The idea is for the system to be used at security checkpoints in office buildings, airports, etc., so mask-wearers can go through without removing their masks. NEC is also testing the technology out for automated payments at an unmanned convenience store in the company's headquarters in Tokyo. The company has sold the system to Lufthansa and Swiss International Airlines.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Shopify has removed stores affiliated with President Trump from its platform, citing a violation of its policies that prohibit users from promoting or supporting organizations that foment violence. CNET reports: "Shopify does not tolerate actions that incite violence," a spokesperson said in a statement. "Based on recent events, we have determined that the actions by President Donald J. Trump violate our Acceptable Use Policy, which prohibits promotion or support of organizations, platforms or people that threaten or condone violence to further a cause." Earlier today, Facebook blocked Trump's account indefinitely. Twitter, Snapchat, and Twitch also disabled Trump's accounts.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Apple will take at least half a decade to launch an autonomous, electric vehicle because development work is still at an early stage, according to people with knowledge of the efforts. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant has a small team of hardware engineers developing drive systems, vehicle interior and external car body designs with the goal of eventually shipping a vehicle. That's a more ambitious goal than in previous years when the project mostly focused on creating an underlying self-driving system. The company has also added more ex-Tesla Inc. executives to the project. Still, some Apple engineers on the project believe the company could release a product in five to seven years if Apple goes ahead with its plans. The car is nowhere near production stage, the people said, though they did warn timelines could change. They asked not to be identified discussing sensitive, internal work. The majority of the team is currently either working from home or at the office for limited time, slowing the company's ability to develop a full vehicle. [...] Reuters recently reported that Apple is aiming to begin producing a car as early as 2024.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Somehow, it's already been two decades since Microsoft first announced the Xbox, its foray into console gaming. Specifically, the Xbox was unveiled at CES in 2001 -- to commemorate that launch, Bloomberg has published an in-depth oral history of how the console came to be. It's a fascinating read, but one particular passage stands out: details on Microsoft's efforts to secure games for the brand-new console. While the company implored third-party developers to work on the Xbox, Microsoft also considered using its considerable financial might to buy developers. And Microsoft set its sights high, approaching Nintendo about an acquisition. Microsoft was laughed out of the room, says Kevin Bachus, a director for third-party relations on the Xbox project. "They just laughed their asses off," Bachus said to Bloomberg. "Like, imagine an hour of somebody just laughing at you. That was kind of how that meeting went." Microsoft's specific pitch did make some amount of sense. At the time, Nintendo was lagging behind Sony badly from a hardware perspective. So Microsoft figured it could take on hardware production and leave Nintendo to focus on the software. "We actually had Nintendo in our building in January 2000 to work through the details of a joint venture where we gave them all the technical specs of the Xbox," said head of business development Bob Mcbreen. "The pitch was their hardware stunk, and compared to Sony PlayStation, it did. So the idea was, 'Listen, you're much better at the game portions of it with Mario and all that stuff. Why don't you let us take care of the hardware?â(TM) But it didn't work out."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The world's cryptocurrency is now worth more than $1 trillion, with bitcoin accounting for a large majority of the value. The price of the oldest virtual currency has risen above $40,000, pushing the value of all bitcoins in circulation up to more than $700 billion. From a report: Ether, the cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, is now worth more than $140 billion. Then there's a long list of less valuable cryptocurrencies, including Tether at $22 billion, Litecoin at $11 billion, and Bitcoin Cash at $8 billion. Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is believed to own around 1 million bitcoins. Most of these were mined in the first two years of Bitcoin's existence when there was little competition. If he still has copies of the private keys that control these coins, that would give him a net worth of nearly $40 billion -- enough to make him among the 40 wealthiest people on the planet. Nakamoto has never publicly revealed his true identity and has not communicated publicly since 2014.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Sony is probably the most storied TV brand still standing and while it's no longer a top 5 seller, it remains a powerhouse among high-end models -- aka TVs that cost a lot of money. Its 2021 lineup of new sets, announced in advance of CES, includes lots of impressive technology and will likely cost a pretty penny too. From a report: The highest-end new Sony has 8K resolution, but the most interesting TV to video quality nerds is the new Master Series A90J OLED TV with higher peak brightness -- marking the first time in years an OLED TV maker has touted brighter panels. Brightness is important for HDR and for making an image pop in bright rooms, and it's the one major area where OLED traditionally lags LCD. Sony is also the first company to officially announce a new size of OLED: 83 inches, the largest 4K OLED to date. (If you're keeping track, LG has an 88-inch 8K OLED for, cough, $30,000.) And if that's not big enough for ya, the successor series to my favorite Sony (for the money) of 2020 includes a 100-inch model. Less exciting (to me) than bigger, brighter TVs is something Sony calls "cognitive" processing, available on all of its 2021 TVs. [...] More welcome was the news that all of the models detailed below include HDMI 2.1 gaming extras, namely 4K/120fps input and variable refresh rate (the latter available via a firmware update), which were previously reserved for just one 2020 model, the X900H.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Chinese search giant Baidu plans to make electric vehicles with help from Geely, the country's largest private automaker, according to a new report from Reuters. From a report: It's the latest Chinese conglomerate to venture into the flourishing electric vehicle market, following shopping giant Alibaba and ride-hailing behemoth Didi Chuxing. Making electric vehicles would also represent a broadening of Baidu's ambition to branch into transportation. Baidu has already spent years working on self-driving technology and is the leading Chinese company in the autonomous vehicle space. Baidu will likely form a new joint venture with Geely for the EV effort, Reuters reports, and will develop software for the vehicle while Geely focuses on the hardware.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Bitcoin surged to $40,000 for the first time, doubling in value in less than a month and pushing the total market value of cryptocurrencies beyond $1 trillion. From a report: Cryptocurrencies hit the milestone after a fivefold climb in market value in the past year, data from tracker CoinGecko shows. Strategists have cited demand from speculative retail traders, trend-following quant funds, the rich and even institutional investors as among the reasons for the surge. Bitcoin rose as much as 11% on Thursday to $40,065 and has more than quadrupled in the past year, according to a composite of prices compiled by Bloomberg. It accounts for about two-thirds of cryptocurrency market value, followed by Ether at about 13%, according to CoinGecko data.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Signal, an encrypted messaging app that competes with other services including Facebook's WhatsApp, said Thursday that verification codes used to create new accounts were delayed because of a flood of new users. From a report: "We are working with carriers to resolve this as quickly as possible," the non-profit foundation said in a tweet. "Hang in there." The surge came just hours after Elon Musk endorsed the service and amid reported changes to WhatsApp's terms of service.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Facebook will ban President Donald Trump's account from posting for at least the remainder of his term in office and perhaps "indefinitely," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post on Thursday. From a report: "We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great," Zuckerberg wrote in the post. "Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete." The decision marks a major escalation by Facebook as it and other platforms have come under intense pressure from advocacy groups and prominent figures to ban Trump following his inflammatory rhetoric encouraging insurrection. Facebook and Twitter took the extraordinary step on Wednesday of temporarily locking President Donald Trump's account on their platforms after his supporters stormed the Capitol building to protest the election.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Elon Musk just became the richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $185 billion. From a report: Thursday's increase in Tesla's share price pushed Musk past Jeff Bezos, who had been the richest person since 2017 and is currently worth about $184 billion. Musk's wealth surge over the past year marks the fastest rise to the top of the rich list in history -- and marks a dramatic financial turnaround for the famed entrepreneur who just 18 months ago was in the headlines for Tesla's rapid cash burn and his personal leverage against Tesla's stock. Musk started 2020 worth about $27 billion, and was barely in the top 50 richest people. Tesla's rocketing share price -- which has increased more than nine-fold over the past year -- along with his generous pay package have added more than $150 billion to his net worth.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Digital services taxes adopted by India, Italy, and Turkey in recent years discriminate against U.S. companies, the U.S. Trade Representative said on Wednesday. From a report: USTR, which began investigations into the three nation's digital services taxes in June last year, said it found them to be inconsistent with international tax principles, unreasonable, and burdening or restricting U.S. commerce. In its detailed reports, which the office has made public, USTR studied how these digital taxes affected companies including Amazon, Google, Facebook, Airbnb, and Twitter. USTR said it conducted these investigations on the ground of Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Chinese internet companies have been violating customers' rights by misusing personal data and "bullying" people into purchases and promotions, a government-backed consumer association said on Thursday. From a report: The statement from the China Consumers Association (CCA) did not name any companies, but comes as Beijing has ramped up scrutiny of technology giants, reversing a once laissez-faire approach towards its vast internet space. "Consumers are being squeezed by data algorithms and becoming the targets of technical bullying," the association said. Companies must stop using systems to scan through consumers' personal data and offer them different prices for goods based on that information, the association said. Algorithms that checked people's internet use and other data, then sent them targeted ads and promotions, deprived customers of choice, it added. Some of the products and services promoted by these automated systems "violated the law and public order and good customs" it said, without going into further detail. Consumers' "values and moral concepts may even be distorted by algorithms and become 'playthings' in the hands of platform operators," the CCA's statement said.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Wi-Fi is about to get a lot better. Many of this year's new phones, laptops, TVs, routers, and more will come with support for Wi-Fi 6E, a new upgrade to Wi-Fi that's essentially like expanding your wireless connection from a two-lane road to an eight-lane highway. From a report: It's the biggest upgrade to Wi-Fi in 20 years, and connections should be faster and a lot more reliable because of it. The Wi-Fi Alliance, the industry-wide group that oversees Wi-Fi, is now starting to certify the first wave of products with support for Wi-Fi 6E. Phones, PCs, and laptops with support should start hitting the market in the first months of 2021, according to the IDC research group, and TVs and VR devices with support are expected to arrive by the middle of the year. Some of the first devices are likely to be announced over the next week.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: Waymo swears it's not out to pick nits and give us all an exercise in linguistics. The fact it will no longer use the term "self-driving" when describing its technology is about education and safety, Alphabet Inc.'s division devoted to the technology said Wednesday. Going forward, Waymo will call its technology "fully autonomous" to create, what it believes, is an important distinction. The company's argument rests entirely on how the public perceives "self-driving" as a term. Waymo points out, without naming names, that some automakers -- Tesla comes to mind -- toss the phrase around even though its technology doesn't fully drive a car on its own. Worse, Waymo said the proliferation of "self-driving" can lead to drivers taking their hands off the wheel when it's unsafe to do so. By moving to the term "fully autonomous," Waymo hopes to lay the groundwork for standard industry terminology and help the public understand that "fully autonomous" means the car makes every decision, well, autonomously on its own accord. It also puts some space between Waymo's technology and companies that continue to brand their own systems as "self-driving." In the end, it's a bit of a branding exercise, but I think Waymo's heart is in the right place.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

According to Nielsen company SuperData's 2020 year in review, 55 percent of people picked up video games during the first phase of lockdowns. The Verge reports: According to SuperData, 66 percent of consumers from 18 to 24 played more console games, while 60 percent played more mobile titles. Unsurprisingly, buyers also tended toward digital purchases. SuperData reports that 27 percent of people -- about 1 in 4 -- played games to stay in touch with each other. [...] As physical spaces disappeared, video games became one of the few places for people to spend time together... SuperData estimates that digital games alone garnered $126.6 billion over the course of the year. The numbers may not spike this year as much as they did in 2020, but SuperData predicts "the long-term habits formed during lockdown are here to stay."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Norway has become the first country to have sold more electric cars than petrol, hybrid, and diesel engines in a year. The Independent reports: Electric cars comprised 54% of all new vehicle sales in Norway for 2019. The Norwegian government plans to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2025, and is using tax breaks and financial incentives to encourage the purchasing of more sustainable vehicles. Battery electric vehicles made up 54.3% of new car sales in 2020, up from 42% in 2019, according to figures published by the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) on Tuesday. Cars with diesel-only engines have fallen from a height of being 75.7 per cent of the Norweigen vehicle market in 2011 to just 8.6 per cent in 2020. "We're definitely on track to reach the 2025 target," said Oyvind Thorsen, the chief executive of OFV. The most popular model in the country was the Audi e-tron sports utility and sportsback vehicles, with the Tesla mid-size Model 3 taking second place.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from New Atlas: Mundane as it may seem, glass is a surprisingly mysterious material. Now scientists at the University of Konstanz have identified a new state of matter called liquid glass, which has some unusual properties. [...] In the new study, the researchers discovered a form of glass where the atoms exhibit a complex behavior that's never been seen in bulk glass before. Essentially, the atoms can move but aren't able to rotate. The team made this discovery in a model system of colloidal suspensions. These mixtures are made up of large solid particles suspended in a fluid, making it easier for scientists to observe the physical behavior of atoms or molecules. Normally these particles are spheres, but for this experiment the team used elliptical ones so they could tell which direction they were pointing. The researchers tested different concentrations of particles in the fluid, tracking how well they could move and rotate. Eventually they found that at higher concentrations, the particles blocked each other from rotating, but they could still move, forming a liquid glass state. "At certain particle densities orientational motion froze whereas translational motion persisted, resulting in glassy states where the particles clustered to form local structures with similar orientation," says Andreas Zumbusch, lead author of the study. The team says that the observed behavior comes from two competing glass transitions interacting with each other. Liquid glass has been predicted for decades, and the new observation suggests that similar processes could be at work in other glass-forming systems. The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from USA Today: Twenty-nine percent of working professionals say they would quit their jobs if they couldn't continue working remotely, according to an online survey of 1,022 professionals by LiveCareer, an online resume and job search consulting service. Forty-two percent of the U.S. workforce has been working from home full-time during the pandemic, according to a Stanford University study. Those teleworking are generally white-collar office workers who can perform their jobs with a phone and computer. The survey underscores that at least some businesses and their workers may be on a collision course as life gradually returns to normal and employers start requiring staffers to come back to the mother ship. Sixty-one percent of the white-collar workers surveyed said they want their company to let them work remotely indefinitely, even after the pandemic is over, while 79% said their company plans to return to on-site work eventually. [...] Professionals in some industries are less adamant about continuing to work from home. Just 7% of retail, wholesale and distribution center employees would switch jobs if they couldn't keep telecommuting. But 35% of information technology workers would bolt. Those surveyed highlighted remote work's advantages, with 64% citing flexibility. Four-four percent pointed to improved work-life balance; 40%, feeling safer; 29%, increased productivity; and 10%, being able to acquire new career skills. There may be room for employers and their staffers to compromise. Ninety-percent of 130 human resources leaders surveyed by Gartner last month said they plan to let employees work remotely at least part of the time, even after a vaccine is widely adopted. And 30% of professionals surveyed by LiveCareer said that if going back to the office is inevitable, they'd like to work there three days a week. Twenty-five percent said two days a week, and 19% said one day. Just 9% said four days.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

According to Reuters, the FBI is investigating whether the hackers behind a series of intrusions at U.S. federal agencies and companies also broke into project-management software created by the Czech-based company JetBrains in order to breach its customers. From the report: Privately held JetBrains produces software called TeamCity that is used by tens of thousands of customers to construct other software. Among its customers is SolarWinds, JetBrains Chief Executive Maxim Shafirov said from St. Petersburg, Russia, where JetBrains has offices. SolarWinds revealed last month that someone with access to its system for developing network-management software had inserted back doors into two updates of its flagship Orion products. Dozens of SolarWinds customers, including at least a half-dozen U.S. agencies, were then exploited by the same hackers. U.S. intelligence agencies said Tuesday that Russia was likely behind the damaging spree, though Russian officials denied it. Shafirov said his company had fielded questions from SolarWinds but that he had not heard anything about JetBrains software being the hackers' route into SolarWinds or other customers.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Amazon will direct $2 billion in loans and grants to secure affordable housing near three American cities where the company employs thousands of workers, the tech giant announced Wednesday. The Seattle Times reports: In a first step in the Puget Sound region, Amazon is promising $185.5 million, mostly in loans, to the King County Housing Authority to help buy affordable apartments in the region and keep the rents low. The Housing Authority will use an initial portion of that money to help fund its recent purchase of three Bellevue apartment buildings. Amazon will also direct about $382 million to a nonprofit in Arlington, Virginia, and so-far unspecified amount to organizations in Nashville, Tennessee. Amazon said it selected the three areas where the company expects to have at least 5,000 employees. In total across the three regions, the company projected the $2 billion would help preserve or create 20,000 affordable housing units over the next five years. The funding will "help local families achieve long-term stability while building strong, inclusive communities," Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Twitter has locked President Trump's Twitter account for 12 hours and forced the removal of three offending tweets. It also warned it could suspend his account permanently. TechCrunch reports: "As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, D.C., we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump Tweets that were posted earlier today for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy," the site writes. As part of the action, Trump will be locked out of his account for at least 12 hours. The account will remain locked beyond that, as long as the tweets are not deleted, the site adds. Beyond the current action, Twitter adds that future violations of its policies, "will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account." The service has long contended that tweets from a prominent figure like Trump were in the public interest, in spite of breaking its stated terms of service. According to Twitter guidelines: "A critical function of our service is providing a place where people can openly and publicly respond to their leaders and hold them accountable. With this in mind, there are certain cases where it may be in the public's interest to have access to certain Tweets, even if they would otherwise be in violation of our rules." The removed tweets include content that was early flagged by the service, "due to a risk of violence," all arriving in the wake of a violent storming of the U.S. Capitol.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Microsoft is making a big change to its Windows 10 taskbar soon, with the addition of a news and weather widget. The Verge reports: The new feature is available to testers today, and it will allow Windows 10 users to access a feed of news, stocks, and weather information straight from the taskbar. You'll be able to quickly glance at the weather without having to open the Start menu, install a third-party app, or check online. The taskbar feature will pop out into a mini feed of content that can be personalized with the latest sports news, headlines, and weather information. Microsoft is using its Microsoft News network to surface news and content from more than 4,500 sources. The company has been curating this through artificial intelligence in recent months, and this particular feature will also learn what news is relevant to you when you dismiss or like stories in the feed. This new taskbar feature will also require Microsoft's Chromium-based Edge to be installed on a PC. That means any link you click within the feature will force you into Edge to read it, and Microsoft is presenting content in the reading view by default. You can of course disable this new taskbar feature, and Microsoft says it will be an ad-free experience.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Trump administration says that Chinese payment apps, including WeChat Pay, are a threat to national security. By Executive Order, all US transactions with these apps must cease within 45 days. AppleInsider reports: President Trump has issued an Executive Order banning US transactions with a range of Chinese payment platform apps from February 18, 2021. The order says this "aggressive action" must be taken because the apps have access to the data of a large number of users. "[The] pace and pervasiveness of the spread in the United States of certain connected mobile and desktop applications," says the Executive Order, "and other software developed or controlled by persons in the People's Republic of China, to include Hong Kong and Macau (China), continue to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States." "At this time, action must be taken to address the threat posed by these Chinese connected software applications," it continues. The most prominent apps named are WeChat Pay and Alipay. The order also lists the lesser-known payment systems QQ Wallet, Tencent QQ, CamScanner, SHAREit, VMate, and WPS Office. US firms have 45 days from the date of the order to comply. However, the specifics of precisely which types of transactions are to be banned is yet to be announced. "The following actions shall be prohibited beginning 45 days after the date of this order, to the extent permitted under applicable law," says the order. "[Any] transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with persons that develop or control the following Chinese connected software applications, or with their subsidiaries."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: President-elect Joe Biden's transition team announced that David Recordon, one of OpenId and oAuth's developers, has been named the White House Director of Technology. Recordon most recently was the VP of infrastructure and security at the non-profit Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation. Before that, Recordon was Facebook's engineer director. There, he had led Facebook's open-source initiatives and projects. Among other programs, this included Phabricator, a suite of code review web apps, which Facebook used for its own development. He also led efforts on Cassandra, the Apache open-source distributed database management system; HipHop, a PHP to C++ source code translator; and Apache Thrift, a software framework, for scalable cross-language services development. In short, he's both a programmer and manager who knows open-source from the inside out. Recordon learned to program at a public elementary school. According to the Biden-Harris transition team, he's spent his almost two-decade career working at the intersection of technology, security, open-source software, public service, and philanthropy. Looking forward to the challenges Recordon faces in his new position, he wrote on LinkedIn: "The pandemic and ongoing cybersecurity attacks present new challenges for the entire Executive Office of the President, but ones I know that these teams can conquer in a safe and secure manner together." The report notes that Recordon served as the first Director of White House Information Technology during President Barack Obama's term of office, working on IT modernization and cybersecurity issues. He's also served as the Biden-Harris transition team's deputy CTO.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The source code of mobile apps and internal tools developed and used by Nissan North America has leaked online after the company misconfigured one of its Git servers. ZDNet reports: The leak originated from a Git server that was left exposed on the internet with its default username and password combo of admin/admin, Tillie Kottmann, a Swiss-based software engineer, told ZDNet in an interview this week. Kottmann, who learned of the leak from an anonymous source and analyzed the Nissan data on Monday, said the Git repository contained the source code of: Nissan NA Mobile apps, some parts of the Nissan ASIST diagnostics tool, the Dealer Business Systems / Dealer Portal, Nissan internal core mobile library, Nissan/Infiniti NCAR/ICAR services, client acquisition and retention tools, sale / market research tools + data, various marketing tools, the vehicle logistics portal, vehicle connected services / Nissan connect things, and various other backends and internal tools.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The New York Stock Exchange said on Wednesday it will delist three Chinese telecom companies, confirming its latest reversal on the matter a day after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told the NYSE chief he disagreed with an earlier decision to reverse the delistings. From a report: The latest move, which is effective Jan. 11, marks the third time in less than a week the Big Board has ruled on the matter. The flip-flopping highlights the confusion over which firms were included in an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in November barring U.S. persons from investing in publicly traded companies Washington deems to be tied to the Chinese military. It also comes amid escalating tensions within Washington on China policy in the final days of the Trump administration. "There is a unique situation where there is an outgoing administration that is disengaged and (there are) orders sitting out there, so something has to be done, but noone wants to take on responsibility," said Leland Miller, the CEO of the U.S.-based consultancy China Beige Book. "I think in future that anyone getting these orders will say: 'Tell us exactly what you want us to do,' and force administrations to be more focused."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New regulations for testing the next generation of ultra-fast jets were finalized by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, an attempt to streamline the development of supersonic flight. From a report: The FAA on Wednesday announced the regulations as several companies work on developing prototypes of aircraft capable of flying faster than the speed of sound, it said in a press release. The move is an attempt to make it easier to receive permission from FAA for conducting supersonic test flights. U.S. rules prohibit routine flights beyond the speed of sound -- about 660 miles (1062 kilometers) per hour at high altitudes -- over land. The agency is also working on setting broader new standards for such aircraft, it said. "Today's action is a significant step toward reintroducing civil supersonic flight and demonstrates the departmentâ(TM)s commitment to safe innovation," Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao said in the press release. Companies including Aerion Corp. and Boom Technology are attempting to design aircraft capable of flying at speeds far faster than existing models, but concerns remain over sonic booms and other environmental issues.Read more of this story at Slashdot.