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Greenland's Ice Melting Faster Than At Any Time In Past 12,000 Years Published on October 01, 2020 at 09:00AM An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Greenland's ice is starting to melt faster than at any time in the past 12,000 years, research has shown, which will raise sea levels and could have a marked impact on ocean currents. New measurements show the rate of melting matches any in the geological record for the Holocene period -- defined as the period since the last ice age -- and is likely to accelerate, according to a paper published in the journal Nature. The increased loss of ice is likely to lead to sea level rises of between 2cm and 10cm by the end of the century from Greenland alone, according to the study. These changes, over the relatively short period of less than a century, appear to be unprecedented. Greenland's ice sheet shrank between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, and has been slowly cumulating over the past 4,000 years. The current meltin

IKEA Is Saying Goodbye To Non-Rechargeable Batteries Published on October 01, 2020 at 07:32AM Ikea will remove all non-rechargeable alkaline batteries from its global home furnishings by October 2021, according to statement from the company emailed Wednesday. CNET reports: Aiming to reduce energy consumption and environmental waste with the move, the home furnishing giant cited the results of recent life-cycle assessment studies showing the environmental impact of alkaline batteries is higher compared with rechargeable nickel metal hydride batteries, when used in common household devices. The Swedish company, based in the Netherlands, said between September 2018 and August 2019 it sold about 300 million alkaline batteries globally. Ikea calculates that if all of its customers switched from alkaline to rechargeable batteries and recharged them just 50 times, global waste could be reduced by as much as 5,000 tons on an annual basis. Ikea added, however, that where required for an indiv

Serious Injuries At Amazon Fulfillment Centers Topped 14,000, Despite the Company's Safety Claims Published on October 01, 2020 at 06:55AM Even as Amazon spends tens of millions on new robotics and technologies to automate its warehouses, workers are still paying the price with more than 14,000 serious injuries -- requiring days off or job restrictions -- reported in fulfillment centers in 2019, according to a report from Reveal. TechCrunch reports: Overall, the company saw 7.7 serious injuries per 100 employees, a number that's 33% higher than it was four years ago and double the most recent industry standard, despite significant investments and claims that safety is improving at its facilities, the report said. A document dump from the Center for Investigative Reporting given to Reveal, internal safety reports and weekly injury numbers from Amazon's network of national fulfillment centers shows that Amazon has misled the public about its safety record. And that the comp

Facebook Launches Cross-Platform Messaging On Instagram and Messenger Published on October 01, 2020 at 06:15AM Facebook is now allowing select users use Instagram to chat with friends on Facebook Messenger and vise-versa. Instagram's direct messages system is also being expanded with features taken from Messenger. The Verge reports: New Instagram messaging tools include vanishing messages, selfie stickers, custom emoji, chat colors, new ways to block unwanted messages, and the introduction of Messenger's Watch Together feature, which lets you watch videos with friends during a video call. Users will be able to reject the update if they choose, but Facebook will no doubt be betting that access to new features will encourage them to say yes. In addition to cross-platform messaging, users on Instagram and Messenger can also search for profiles across both apps simultaneously. Users can opt out of these features if they wish. According to CNN, the [cross-platform messaging featur

Mercedes-Benz's Newest Electric City Bus Uses Solid-State Batteries Published on October 01, 2020 at 05:32AM An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Mercedes-Benz just announced that its new eCitaro and eCitaro G city buses will be available with roof-mounted solid-state battery packs, developed in conjunction with the Canadian power company Hydro Quebec. Although details are still rather limited right now, Mercedes-Benz says that the solid-state pack has a 25-percent higher energy density than even the most advanced lithium-ion chemistry. It also says that the solid-state battery has a much better service life than lithium-ion and is warrantying these batteries for 10 years or an energy throughput of 280MWh. When configured with a total of 441kWh onboard (composed of seven 63kWh packs), an eCitaro G has a range of up to 137 miles (220km) under favorable conditions, or 105 miles (170km) in the depth of winter with the bus's heaters running. However, these solid

When Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, the crew brought devices with them called retroreflectors, which are essentially small arrays of mirrors. via NASA https://ift.tt/3ifdBj5

Coinbase Offers Severance Package to Employees Unsatisfied With 'Apolitical' Mission Published on September 30, 2020 at 09:41PM An anonymous reader shares a report: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong sent his employees a letter telling them to get in line with a new company "culture shift," offering those unwilling to do so a "generous separation package." Armstrong sent the letter, which CoinDesk obtained, to Coinbase employees on Wednesday, stating the time has come to have a "difficult conversation" over his recent clarification of Coinbase's mission. Armstrong wrote that Coinbase had "an apolitical culture" in an open letter published Sunday that said the exchange would not engage in "broader societal issues" or entertain employee discussions about these issues. Those employees unhappy with the new direction have been informed they can take up a separation package because "life is too short to work at a company that you

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Fox News Breaking News Alert Kentucky AG's office moves to delay release of grand-jury records in Breonna Taylor case 09/30/20 7:49 AM

China Preparing an Antitrust Investigation Into Google Published on September 30, 2020 at 08:55PM China is preparing to launch an antitrust probe into Google, looking into allegations it has leveraged the dominance of its Android mobile operating system to stifle competition, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter. From the report: The case was proposed by telecommunications equipment giant Huawei last year and has been submitted by the country's top market regulator to the State Council's antitrust committee for review, they added. A decision on whether to proceed with a formal investigation may come as soon as October and could be affected by the state of China's relationship with the United States, one of the people said. The potential investigation follows a raft of actions by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to hobble Chinese tech companies, citing national security risks. This has included putting Huawei on its trade b

Big Tech Faces Ban From Favoring Own Services Under EU Rules Published on September 30, 2020 at 08:18PM Big tech firms could be banned from preferencing their own services in search rankings or exclusively pre-installing their own applications on devices, under new regulations planned by the European Union. From a report: As part of the EU's Digital Services Act, platforms with power to control could also have to share customer data with business rivals, according to internal draft documents obtained by Bloomberg. Due to be unveiled in December by the European Commission, the bloc's executive body, the legislation will seek to modernize rules governing the internet to give platforms greater responsibility for what users post on their sites as well as propose regulation aimed at curbing the power of large platforms. The initiative comes as big giants such as Apple and Google offer services across a widening array of sectors and as competitors increasingly rely on their platfor

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Americans Are Drinking More Alcohol Than in 2019 Published on September 30, 2020 at 07:40PM Americans reported drinking alcohol more frequently and in higher quantities since last year, according to a study published in JAMA. From a report: Excessive alcohol consumption may cause or worsen mental health problems, such as anxiety or depression. Experts have also warned the stress of the pandemic has fomented alcohol and drug abuse. The greatest changes were among women and people 30 to 59 years old. On average, alcohol was consumed one day more per month by three of four adults. Frequency of alcohol consumption for women increased by 17%. Heavy drinking among women -- four or more drinks within a few hours -- spiked 41% since 2019. Adults aged 30 to 59 years increased their drinking by 19% since last year. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Dual-Flush Toilets 'Wasting More Water Than They Save' Published on September 30, 2020 at 06:30PM An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Toilets specially designed to save water are wasting more than they conserve, the UK's largest water firm has warned. Campaigners have warned for years that dual-flush toilets, introduced as more efficient alternatives that were expected to use less than half the amount of water per flush, are more prone to leaks. The problem is said to be so great that the costs are outweighing the benefits. "Because there's so many loos that continuously flow all through the day and night, collectively that water loss is now exceeding the amount of water the dual-flush design should be saving," said Andrew Tucker, water efficiency manager at Thames Water. "The volume of water loss is getting bigger every day as more people refurbish and retrofit older toilets and as more homes are built, so it's a growing problem.

'I Monitor My Staff With Software That Takes Screenshots' Published on September 30, 2020 at 03:30PM AmiMoJo shares a report from the BBC: Shibu Philip admits he knows what it's like to "maybe waste a bit of time at work." Shibu is the founder of Transcend -- a small London-based firm that buys beauty products wholesale and re-sells them online. For the last year and a half he has used Hubstaff software to track his workers' hours, keystrokes, mouse movements and websites visited. With seven employees based in India, he says the software ensures "there is some level of accountability" and helps plug the time difference. "I know myself. [You can] take an extra 10-minute break here or there. It's good to have an automatic way of monitoring what [my employees] are up to," says Shibu. "By looking at screenshots and how much time everyone is taking on certain tasks, I know if they're following procedures. "And, if they're

Great North Air Ambulance Trials Paramedic Jet Suit Published on September 30, 2020 at 12:30PM A jet suit for paramedics which would see patients reached in minutes by a "flying" medic has been tested by the Great North Air Ambulance Service. The BBC reports: After a year of talks between GNAAS and Gravity Industries, a first test flight was carried out in the Lake District. Andy Mawson, director of operations at GNAAS, came up with the idea and described seeing it as "awesome." He said it meant a paramedic could "fly" to a fell top in 90 seconds rather than taking 30 minutes on foot. The test flight was carried out by Richard Browning, founder of Gravity Industries. He said the suits had two mini engines on each arm and one on the back allowing the paramedic to control their movement just by moving their hands. "The biggest advantage is its speed," Mr Mawson said. "If the idea takes off, the flying paramedic will be armed with a medical k

Fox News Breaking News Alert HIGH-STAKES SHOWDOWN 09/29/20 7:51 PM

Tesco, One of the World's Largest Supermarket Operators, Sets 300% Sales Target For Plant-Based Alternatives To Meat Published on September 30, 2020 at 09:00AM An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Tesco is to become the first UK retailer to set a sales target for plant-based alternatives to meat as it steps up efforts to offer shoppers more sustainable options. The UK's largest supermarket will on Tuesday commit to boosting sales of meat alternatives by 300% within five years, by 2025. Over the past year, demand for chilled meat-free foods -- the most popular line including burger, sausage and mince substitutes -- has increased by almost 50%, the retailer said. As a result, it is expanding into more categories and creating larger "centerpiece" dishes for two people as well as family-sized portions. The target is part of a wider package of sustainability measures developed with its charity partner the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to try to halve

Fox News Breaking News Alert Biden defends son, says Hunter overcame 'drug problem' after Trump raises family controversies 09/29/20 7:35 PM

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Denmark: We Can Slash CO2 By 70% In a Decade And Still Have Welfare Published on September 30, 2020 at 07:40AM Denmark said on Tuesday that it could reach its 2030 climate target of reducing emissions by 70%, one of the world's most ambitious, without compromising its generous welfare benefits. Reuters reports: Last year, parties across the aisle passed a law committing Denmark to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70% from 1990 levels, or around 20 million tons of CO2 equivalent, within 10 years. In a climate plan published on Tuesday, the government estimated that the annual cost of implementing the shift to greener technologies would rise to 16-24 billion Danish crowns ($2.5-$3.7 billion) by 2030 -- or 0.7%-1.0% of gross domestic product. "Our ambitious climate goals are not without costs, but with a wise approach, the bill can be made smaller and managed so that we can afford both climate and welfare," Climate Minister Dan Joergensen said in a statement. Initiatives

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The World's First Foldable PC Is Now Available To Order From Lenovo Published on September 30, 2020 at 07:00AM Last year at its Accelerate 2019 event in Orlando, Lenovo teased "the world's first foldable PC." They didn't unveil the name, price tag, or ship date -- just that it would be part of Lenovo's flagship ThinkPad X1 line and that it would arrive in 2020. Today, the company formally unveiled the device it's calling the ThinkPad X1 Fold, which is available for preorder now, starting at $2,499. The Verge reports: The idea is that you can use the Fold like a large tablet when it's fully unfolded (or divide the screen into two adjacent displays). You can prop the Fold up horizontally to use it like a full 13-inch notebook, with an optional detachable keyboard and easel stand. You can fold the thing up 90 degrees, turn it vertically, and use it like a miniature laptop (a touchscreen keyboard pops up on the bottom half). You can turn it horizontally

Amsterdam and Helsinki Launch Algorithm Registries To Bring Transparency To Public Deployments of AI Published on September 30, 2020 at 06:21AM Amsterdam and Helsinki this week launched AI registries to detail how each city government uses algorithms to deliver services, some of the first major cities in the world to do so. From a report: An AI Register for each city was introduced in beta today as part of the Next Generation Internet Policy Summit, organized in part by the European Commission and the city of Amsterdam. The Amsterdam registry currently features a handful of algorithms, but it will be extended to include all algorithms following the collection of feedback at the virtual conference to lay out a European vision of the future of the internet, according to a city official. Each algorithm cited in the registry lists datasets used to train a model, a description of how an algorithm is used, how humans utilize the prediction, and how algorithms were assessed for potential bi

Compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor Is 'Very Likely To Work,' Studies Suggest Published on September 30, 2020 at 05:40AM JoshuaZ writes: Recent research into the Sparc fusion reactor design make it seem likely to work. Unlike some other fusion reactor designs, Sparc uses high-temperature superconductors which are capable of much stronger magnetic fields in a more closely-confined location. Sparc will be much smaller than large-scale international project ITER, which after multiple delays is now not scheduled to even start fusion reactions by 2035 at the earliest. The Sparc researchers hope that their reactor design will be completed soon enough to have an impact on climate change. The new research on Sparc consists of seven different papers, all of which have favorable estimates for the likelihood of the project succeeding. Some physicists, including Cary Forest, at the University of Wisconsin, were more skeptical. Forest told the New York Times that Sparc's estimates for when

Fox News Breaking News Alert Declassified docs show Obama admin briefed on claims Clinton drummed up Russia controversy to vilify Trump, distract from emails 09/29/20 2:35 PM

Cloudflare's Privacy Crusade Continues With a Challenge To Google Analytics Published on September 30, 2020 at 02:20AM An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune: Cloudflare is launching a privacy-friendly rival to Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a free toolkit that's used by website administrators across the globe to help them track the behavior of the people visiting those sites -- how they find them, what they do there, the devices they're using, and so on. However, the service -- the most popular of its kind -- also helps Google track websites' visitors, so it can better profile them for advertising purposes. This privacy-invasive aspect makes many people squeamish. And that's where Cloudflare would now like to step in. Around its birthday every year, the decade-old company -- which went public last year -- announces a move intended to "give back" to the wider Internet community. These moves are often related to privacy. On Tuesday, it un

In Brazil's Amazon a COVID-19 Resurgence Dashes Herd Immunity Hopes Published on September 30, 2020 at 01:41AM Anthony Boadle, reporting for Reuters: [...] In April and May, so many Manaus residents were dying from COVID-19 that its hospitals collapsed and cemeteries could not dig graves fast enough. The city never imposed a full lockdown. Non-essential businesses were closed but many simply ignored social distancing guidelines. Then in June, deaths unexpectedly plummeted. Public health experts wondered whether so many residents had caught the virus that it had run out of new people to infect. Research posted last week to medRxiv, a website distributing unpublished papers on health science, estimated that 44% to 66% of the Manaus population was infected between the peak in mid-May and August. The study by the University of Sao Paulo's Institute of Tropical Medicine tested newly donated banked blood for antibodies to the virus and used a mathematical model to estimate contagio

Microsoft: Some Ransomware Attacks Take Less Than 45 Minutes Published on September 30, 2020 at 01:01AM Catalin Cimpanu, writing for ZDNet: For many years, the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report has been the gold standard in terms of providing a yearly overview of all the major events and trends in the cyber-security and threat intelligence landscape. While Microsoft unceremoniously retired the old SIR reports back in 2018, the OS maker appears to have realized its mistake, and has brought it back today, rebranded as the new Microsoft Digital Defense Report. Just like the previous SIR reports, Microsoft has yet again delivered. Taking advantage of its vantage points over vast swaths of the desktop, server, enterprise, and cloud ecosystems, Microsoft has summarized the biggest threats companies deal with today in the face of cybercrime and nation-state attackers. The report is 88 pages long, includes data from July 2019 and June 2020, and some users might not have the time to go t

Apple Accused of Delaying Masimo Legal Fight To Gain Watch Sales Published on September 30, 2020 at 12:16AM Apple is trying to delay a legal fight over allegedly stolen blood-oxygen monitoring technology in its latest watch so it can gain a more dominant share of the smartwatch market, medical-sensor maker Masimo said in a court filing late Monday. From a report: Blood-oxygen monitoring is a key feature of the latest Apple Watch Series 6 announced on Sept. 15. Masimo and its spinoff Cercacor Laboratories had sued in January, accusing Apple of promising a working relationship only to steal secret information and hire away key employees, including Cercacor's former chief technology officer and Masimo's chief medical officer. Cupertino, California-based Apple hasn't formally responded to the allegations. Instead, it has filed requests to dismiss the trade-secret part of the case and earlier this month lodged petitions to have Masimo patents invalidated at the U.S. Patent and

US-China Fight Spreads To the Chip Factory Published on September 29, 2020 at 11:46PM The Trump administration's campaign against TikTok gets all the headlines, but the U.S. move last week to place restrictions on Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), China's top chipmaker, could end up making a greater difference. From a report: Semiconductor analysts say SMIC represented China's strongest bid to build a domestic chip industry and bolster its tech independence. Sanctions that cut off its access to advanced manufacturing and testing equipment from the U.S. could seriously set that effort back. The Commerce Department sent a letter Friday to U.S. semiconductor firms telling them they would need licenses to export some kinds of equipment to SMIC because anything they sold the company might be subject to "diversion to a military end use." SMIC denies any relationship with China's military. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Fox News Breaking News Alert Biden releases 2019 tax returns, calls for Trump to release his 09/29/20 10:15 AM

College Enrollments Are Falling in the US -- Except For Graduate Degrees Published on September 29, 2020 at 11:01PM One of the more worrying aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US is its effect on undergraduate enrollments. From a report: Over the summer there were indications, through student loan data and Census surveys, that students were either dropping out or not enrolling in previous numbers. For some students, particularly those from low-income and minority families, the financial and logistical challenges posed by the pandemic were too much to overcome. Now we have an early glimpse of actual enrollment figures from 629 US colleges (or about 22%) that reported their data to the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit that collects information for universities. The data, which compare the same colleges from 2019 to 2020, go through Sept. 10, and were reported Sept. 24. Undergraduate enrollments are indeed falling, particularly for two-year associate degrees and certific

Biden Campaign Blasts Facebook for 'Regression' Published on September 29, 2020 at 10:29PM On the eve of the first presidential debate, the Biden campaign is pressing Facebook to remove posts by President Trump -- and slamming the social media company as "the nation's foremost propagator of disinformation about the voting process." From a report: By publicly escalating the conflict, the campaign is pressing Facebook to enforce its policies against misinformation more aggressively. "Rather than seeing progress, we have seen regression," campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a three-page letter obtained by Axios. "Facebook's continued promise of future action is serving as nothing more than an excuse for inaction," the letter says. "We will be calling out those failures as they occur over the coming 36 days." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

D-Wave's 5,000-Qubit Quantum Computing Platform Handles 1 Million Variables Published on September 29, 2020 at 09:34PM D-Wave today launched its next-generation quantum computing platform available via its Leap quantum cloud service. The company calls Advantage "the first quantum computer built for business." In that vein, D-Wave today also debuted Launch, a jump-start program for businesses that want to begin building hybrid quantum applications. From a report: "The Advantage quantum computer is the first quantum computer designed and developed from the ground up to support business applications," D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz told VentureBeat. "We engineered it to be able to deal with large, complex commercial applications and to be able to support the running of those applications in production environments. There is no other quantum computer anywhere in the world that can solve problems at the scale and complexity that this quantum computer can solve problem