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takyon writes:French army gets ethical go-ahead for bionic soldiers

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:US House passes bill to tear down judiciary's paywall:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Uber wants drivers and delivery workers to get priority access to COVID-19 vaccine:

takyon writes:Hyundai takes control of Boston Dynamics in $1.1B deal

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Spotify resets passwords after a security bug exposed users’ private account information – TechCrunch:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1957:Fragments of energy – not waves or particles – may be the fundamental building blocks of the universe:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for FatPhil:Singapore Approves a Lab-Grown Meat Product, a Global First:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:New superhighway system discovered in the Solar System:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:We're watching the world go blind, researchers say:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for aristarchus_:In their closest alignment in 800 years, Jupiter and Saturn will create a wonder: A Christmas Star:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Are dining tents a safe way to eat out during the pandemic?:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:World's largest study on New Year's resolutions reveals 1 tip for thriving in 2021:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:New sunspot cycle could be one of the strongest on record, new research predicts: Scientists use an extended, 22-year solar cycle to make the forecast:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for aristarchus_:U.S. physicists rally around ambitious plan to build fusion power plant:

An Anonymous Coward writes:In 2018 employees of two companies, Beijing Baice Technology and Shenzhen Zhipu Technology, planted malware on devices sold by Chinese smartphone maker Gionee with the intent to activate the software to take over user phones. The malware was in the form of an SDK wrapped up in an update to Story Lock Screen, a screen-locker app that came preinstalled with Gionee devices.Court documents say that between December 2018 to October 2019, more than 20 million Gionee devices across the world received more than 2.88 billion "pull functions" (ads), generating more than 27.85 million Chinese yuan ($4.26 million) in profit for the two companies.The four persons received prison sentences ranging from 3 to 3.5 years and fines of 200,000 Chinese yuan ($30,500) each. Shenzhen Zhipu Technology also received a separate fine of 400,000 Chinese yuan ($61,000).Crime pays.Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Premiere security firm FireEye says it was breached by nation-state hackers:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:NASA selects cadre of astronauts for Artemis missions - SpaceNews:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Amazon Sidewalk will be enabled by default on Echo devices:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Facebook sued by FTC, states over alleged abuse of monopoly power:

aristarchus writes:Not breaking news, but a bit of intellectual history is always a pleasant distraction: the BBC on the House of Wisdom, and the introduction of Arabic numberals to Europe.How modern mathematics emerged from a lost Islamic library:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for aristarchus_:Bees Paint Animal Poo on Their Homes to Repel Giant Hornets:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:Roman subjects paid emperor piles of silver to leave them alone, inscription reveals:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Russian 'doomsday' plane's radio equipment stolen by thieves:

MostCynical writes:The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the biggest overhaul of Australia's national security laws in four decades will see ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation — the nation's domestic intelligence agency) given powers to spy on Australians when they return from overseas and who had been working for a foreign power.Intelligence review recommends biggest overhaul of national security laws since 1980s:

Freeman writes:Cyberpunk 2077 could trigger seizures in photosensitive players [Updated]:

2020-12-09 23:23:24 UTC: Launch went smoothly as did ascent to altitude and leanover to "bellyflop" orientation. Was able to right itself back to vertical but had too much speed at time of reaching earth. Got big boom on impact. SN9 has been waiting patiently in the wings (as well as SN10 through SN15, in different degrees of completion). Which one will be next and how soon will it be? Can't wait to find out! --martyb2020-12-09 21:25:12 UTC: Tentative T-0 now at 4:40 PM CST / 2240 UTC.2020-12-09 21:03:13 UTC at T-02:06: "Clock paused. Standing by for new T-0."2020-12-09 20:44:45 UTC: SpaceX has put up a new live feed for their SN8 (Serial Number 8) Starship test flight. The feed is currently active; launch is expected in the next few minutes. --martybOriginal story follows.Read more of this story at SoylentNews.

Freeman writes:Tesla plans to raise another $5 billion as value soars above $600 billion:

Freeman writes:Grand theft GPU: $340,000 worth of RTX 3090s "fell off a truck" in China:

An Anonymous Coward writes:CentOS Linux 8 will end in 2021 and shifts focus to CentOS Stream:

Freeman writes:Cloudflare, Apple, and others back a new way to make the Internet more private:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Let's Encrypt Will Stop Working For Older Android Devices:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:How do we separate the factual from the possible? New research shows how our brain responds to both:

Uber Sells Off Self-Driving and Flying Taxi Unitstakyon writes:Uber sells its self-driving unit to Aurora

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Ransomware operators have adopted a dastardly new strategy:

takyon writes:Armed police raid home of Florida scientist fired over Covid-19 data

takyon writes:New report reveals Apple's roadmap for when each Mac will move to Apple Silicon

takyon writes:Christopher Nolan Rips HBO Max as "Worst Streaming Service," Denounces Warner Bros.' Plan

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Famed pilot Chuck Yeager dies at age 97:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Why Covid may mean more facial recognition tech:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Wormable, Zero-Click Vulnerability in Microsoft Teams:

looorg writes:WOZX. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is starting — okay he apparently started it over a year ago but it sort of didn't do anything — a new green company. The company has created its own cryptocurrency tokens to fund green tech.Steve Wozniak is starting another company, 45 years after co-founding Apple with Steve Jobs:

radical dreamer writes:In its weekly feature, This Week in History, the World Socialist Web Site, published by the ICFI and Socialist Equality Parties, reviewed the historic Galileo mission to Jupiter. This week in history: December 7-13,

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Quantum device performs 2.6 billion years of computation in 4 minutes:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:Rise of the underdog: A neglected mechanism in antiferromagnets may be key to spintronics:

Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/12/nsa-says-russian-state-hackers-are-using-a-vmware-flaw-to-ransack-networks/

Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/12/fbi-used-patriot-act-to-gather-website-visitor-logs-in-2019-report-finds/

Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/12/spacex-gets-886-million-from-fcc-to-subsidize-starlink-i

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Scientists Say They've Identified The Best Place For Life to Have Existed on Mars:

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:Hidden structure found in essential metabolic machinery:

canopic jug writes:[Ed note: this is a quite old story, but might lead to interesting discussion. What kind of simulators have you operated and how well did the prepare you for the real-life activity? Which ones were successful? Which ones were not?]Back in 2013, TopGear brought in simulation champion Greger Huttu from Vaasa, Finland to drive a real racing car to investigate how well simulator skills transfer to physical racing. In a nutshell the answer is quite well, aside from the motion sickness.