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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Pfizer vaccine doesn't need ultra-cold storage after all, company says:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:The AI research paper was real. The "co-author" wasn't:

canopic jug writes:Developer and entrepeneur Bert Hubert has written about how software supply chain safety is similar to food supply safety. Both are about recognizing hazards and finding critical control points to monitor. Strict rules about handling must also be followed, in both fields.

takyon writes:Kodi 19 Released With Python 3 Transition Complete, AV1 Software Decode

martyb writes:A Genetic Variant You May Have Inherited From Neanderthals Reduces the Risk of Severe COVID-19:

takyon writes:Toshiba Unveils World's First FC-MAMR HDD: 18 TB, Helium Filled

AnonTechie writes:A second Google A.I. researcher says the company fired her:

AnonTechie writes:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:How NASA Designed a Helicopter That Could Fly Autonomously on Mars:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Researchers eavesdrop on cellular conversations:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:The Grim Consequences of a Misleading Study on Disinformation:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash:

MrPlow writes:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Brave privacy bug exposes Tor onion URLs to your DNS provider:

Freeman writes:Valve gets dragged into Apple and Epic's legal fight over Fortnite:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Fnord666:AI has remastered Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' in glorious 4K:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

hubie writes:No one here will be surprised by the size and reach of the data broker industry and the desire to identify and track individual users. From a data standpoint, the majority of human interaction now happens on mobile devices, and these devices end up collecting and storing a very large amount of our information. US privacy laws allow sharing and selling of anonymized data, which are those that do not contain Personally Identifying Information (PII), and the much ballyhooed GDPR imposes strict inform and consent requirements on collecting and using personal information. To comply with these laws many entities simply throw away all the personal information and keep the rest of the data, which sounds like a great thing until one realizes that it turns out to be relatively easy to deanonymize this data using otherwise innocuous data on the mobile device anyway.The reason that so many apps report to third parties what other apps are installed on a phone is because these other apps create a remarkably unique fingerprint of each person. The aggregate of the installed apps and their relative usage turn out to be very unique for over 99% of people. So ad blockers can block cookies, and users can reset things like the Android Advertisement ID, but users can't reset or fake their app usage stats.Some researchers looked at a data set of millions of people spanning 12 months and 33 countries and found that 91% of the people could be identified by looking at just the usage of four apps. They also looked at seasonal and cultural differences for identifying users. They found that people have more unique app fingerprints during summer months making them easier to identify then. They also saw significant variations in uniqueness across countries and found that American users are the easiest to identify while Finns have the least unique app fingerprints.Sekara, V., Alessandretti, L., Mones, E. et al. Temporal and cultural limits of privacy in smartphone app usage [open]. Sci Rep 11, 3861 (2021).

hubie writes:From a recent Scientific Reports paper:

takyon writes:NVIDIA Nerfs Ethereum Hash Rate & Launches CMP Dedicated Mining Hardware

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Uber Shuts Down App That Told Drivers If Uber Underpaid Them:

takyon writes:Million-year-old mammoth DNA rewrites animal's evolutionary tree

An Anonymous Coward writes:https://if50.substack.com/p/1977-zork

takyon writes:Unique life forms accidentally found under 3,000 feet of Antarctica ice, scientists say

martyb writes:Touchdown! NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover Safely Lands on Red Planet:First image from surface. (Members of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover team watch in mission control as the first images arrive moments after the spacecraft successfully touched down on Mars, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. (Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:SDK Bug Lets Attackers Spy on User's Video Calls Across Dating, Healthcare Apps:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Plastic recycling results in rare metals being found in children's toys and food packaging:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:An anniversary for great justice: Remembering "All Your Base" 20 years later:

AnonTechie writes:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Mutation in SARS-CoV-2 spike protein renders virus up to eight times more infectious:

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[2021-02-18 21:02:56 UTC; UPDATE: Landing successful! Picture received from the surface!]7 Minutes to Mars: NASA's Perseverance Rover Attempts Most Dangerous Landing YetEratosthenes writes:Video at NASA on YouTube on the Perseverance landing.Helicopter!!NASA's Perseverance Rover Prepares for Mars Landingupstart writes in with an IRC submission:NASA's Perseverance rover prepares for Mars landing:

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:Unlocking the mystery behind skeletal aging:

takyon writes:Samsung's New HBM2 Memory Thinks for Itself: 1.2 TFLOPS of Embedded Processing Power

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Runaway1956 writes:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Star employees get most of the credit - and blame:

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KritonK writes:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:iOS 14.5 wants to keep your internet use well away from Google:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Dr. Fauci wins $1 million Dan David prize for 'defending science':

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes: A tiny crystal device could boost gravitational wave detectors to reveal the birth cries of black holes:

martyb writes:On Monday February 17 2014, at 02:06AM SoylentNews announced itself to the world!(That's exactly seven years ago from the time this story posts.) Does it seem possible? I know it certainly amazes me.A lot can happen in a year. Here are some items of note. As always, if you are not interested in this kind of stuff, ignore this post — a new story will be along shortly. Otherwise, this story continues below the fold.

takyon writes:Pine64 unveils Quartz64 SBC powered by Rockchip RK3566 SoC

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Eratosthenes writes:Science Mag says:

In Violation of Einstein, Black Holes Might Have 'Hair'upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:what-color-is-the-virtual-hair-of-black-holesIn Violation of Einstein, Black Holes Might Have 'Hair':

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Scientists prove that deepfake detectors can be duped:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Zero-days under active exploit are keeping Windows users busy: