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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Google-free /e/ OS is now selling preloaded phones in the US, starting at $380:

An Anonymous Coward writes:https://www.historytoday.com/archive/natural-histories/black-death-new-culprit

An Anonymous Coward writes:https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/china-makes-anal-swab-covid-tests-compulsory-for-foreign-arrivals-mvthjq8c7

martyb writes:Background:

AnonTechie writes:SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN:

aristarchus writes:Source of hazardous high-energy particles located in the Sun:

takyon writes:Alphabet's moonshot lab is working on a device to give people superhuman hearing

AnonTechie writes:Book Announcement:

slinches writes:SpaceX Mars prototype rocket nails landing for the first time, but explodes on pad:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AzumaHazuki:Most brain activity is "background noise" — and that's upending our understanding of consciousness:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956 and for Teckla:Cuttlefish show self-control, pass 'marshmallow test':

Booga1 writes:Cybernews is reporting a trove of data for millions of VPN users being offered for sale.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:'Deep Nostalgia' Can Turn Old Photos of Your Relatives Into Moving Videos:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:How battery swapping could reduce EV charge time to just 10 minutes:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Google claims it will stop tracking individual users for ads:

Eratosthenes writes:From How This Ancient, Defleshed Human Skull Ended Up in Such a Strange Spot?

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Japanese billionaire seeks 8 crewmembers for moon-bound mission on SpaceX's Starship:

DannyB writes:In Colorado:

takyon writes:AMD Announces Radeon RX 6700 XT: RDNA2 For 1440p, Coming March 18th For $479

takyon writes:Texas court orders Intel to pay $2.18 billion for two patent infringements

Halibut writes:Last November, class action lawsuits were filed against multiple websites employing activity loggers: Nike (and FullStory), Lululemon (and Quantum Metric), and WebMD (and Mouseflow). The WebMD story mentions some others at the end.According to these lawsuits, the companies running the websites, and the companies providing the logging software, are intercepting and/or recording personally identifiable information without the knowledge or consent of the viewers of the site. The lawsuits, which are filed in the state of California, allege this constitutes an illegal wiretap in violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA). The CIPA is an anti-wiretapping law that imposes civil and criminal penalties for recording confidential conversations, with fairly broad definitions for confidential conversations and consent.Despite being a few months old, I had not heard about these lawsuits. Website replay logging software scripts have been around for years (here is a story from 2017). These replay loggers can record everything from where your cursor goes to what links you click on to what keys you press on the website. According to the stories, both the company hosting the website and the company who operates the logger can get enough information to fully replay a user's interaction with the website. This would be particularly violating where the user is entering a password or, as in the WebMD case above, personal information including medical information. Even if the user intended to send that information to the website in question, most users are probably not aware that it is also being sent to a third party.Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.

Watch out, PayPal. Square just launched its own bank:

[2021-03-03 22:13:57 UTC; UPDATE #2]:Ars Technica posted an update to their earlier story:

An Anonymous Coward writes:Cord cutting was so bad last year that pay-TV penetration is down to 1994 levels

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for SoyGuest93544:Glow-in-the-dark sharks found off New Zealand coast:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Travelers to the tropics are more prone to acquiring superbacteria than previously thought:

martyb writes:According to c|net, FDA panel gives Johnson & Johnson's one-shot COVID-19 vaccine green light:

martyb writes:Massive Iceberg – 10 Times the Size of San Francisco – Breaks Off Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica

martyb writes:Far-Right Platform Gab Has Been Hacked:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Want to Buy a Scrunchie Mask? Great. But Forget About That N95.:

canopic jug writes:The Free Software Foundation Europe(FSFE) (no connections to the Free Software Foundation(FSF), despite the name) has logged a win in Italy in court for the freedom to choose the operating system on new computers. Luca Bonissi won after two years of court battles. He won the first round in a kind of small claims court, but Lenovo responded by lawyering up and attacking. The court eventually rejected all of Lenovos argument, confirming that the right to reimbursment for pre-installed software is due. Further, an additional 20k EUR in damages were awarded to Bonissi.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:AT&T spinning off DirecTV after losing millions of customers:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Hard-coded key vulnerability in Logix PLCs has severity score of 10 out of 10:

aristarchus writes:More details on Perseverance, at Gizmodo.

takyon writes:Rocket Lab plans to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), become a publicly traded company, and develop a medium-lift partially reusable rocket. "Neutron" would be competitive with SpaceX's Falcon 9 and capable of launching cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Countries call on drug companies to share vaccine know-how:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Judge approves $650M Facebook privacy lawsuit settlement:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Self-Flying Drone Startup Skydio Hits $1 Billion Valuation After $170 Million Raise:

Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/02/report-stadia-undershot-to-the-tune-of-hundreds-of-thousands-of-users/

aristarchus writes:She came to the U.S. with $300. Now she's part of NASA's Mars mission.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Plastic bottles holding 2.3 litres are least harmful to the planet:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:The Mac price crash of 2021 | ZDNet:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Red Hat introduces free RHEL for open-source, non-profit organizations:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Best Buy just laid off 5,000 workers and will close more stores:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AzumaHazuki:Ultrasound triggers brain's waste disposal system in Alzheimer's patients:

takyon writes:Lyra: A New Very Low-Bitrate Codec for Speech Compression

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Meet Catfish Charlie, the CIA's Robotic Spy:

takyon writes:AI Teaches Itself Diplomacy

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for SoyCow639:Heavily used Node.js package has a code injection vulnerability:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Researchers Say They've Solved the Puzzling Mystery of the Moons of Mars: