History is the study of literally everything that has ever happened, and by that measure, it is objectively the most interesting of all fields. It’s also just totally, categorically wrong, like, 90 percent of the time. Case in point: You’ve probably heard that E.T. for the Atari 2600 was so bad that it crashed the…
Source: Kotaku – Atari’s Bad E.T. Game Wasn’t Responsible For The 1983 Video Game Crash, Capitalism Was
The fact that Apple is developing its own electric car just be one of the worst-kept secrets in tech. But after Hyundai recently spilled the beans on a potential partnership to produce the car with Apple, a new report suggests Hyundai execs are hesitant to move forward with a deal.
Source: Gizmodo – Hyundai Execs Are Reportedly Worried About Working with Apple
Yesterday, in an earnings call, Visa CEO Alfred Kelly said that the firm wants to “work with wallets and exchanges” on handling crypto, and has called bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies “digital gold.” Cryptocurrency News reports: During his talk, Kelly spent a significant amount of time discussing crypto. After differentiating a divide between “cryptocurrencies that represent new assets such as bitcoin” and “digital currencies and stablecoins” backed by fiat holdings, he stated: “We see all [cryptocurrencies] as digital gold. They are predominantly held as assets that are not used as a form of payment in a significant way at this point. Our strategy here is to work with wallets and exchanges to enable users to purchase these currencies using their Visa credentials or to cash out onto our Visa credential to make fiat purchase[s].”
The Visa chief appeared to be keen to leave the door open for all crypto projects that show promise, pledging that should “a specific digital currency become a recognized means of exchange, there’s no reason why we cannot add it to our network, which already supports over 160 currencies.” And Kelly appeared ready to court the custom of stablecoin issuers — as well as digital currency-issuing central banks. He said: “For […] stablecoins and central bank digital currencies, these are an emerging payments innovation that could have the potential to be used for global commerce, much like any other fiat currency. We think of digital currencies running on public blockchains as additional networks […] we see them as part of our network of networks strategy. […] We are the clear leader in this space.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Visa Wants To Work With Exchanges, Wallets On ‘Digital Gold’ Bitcoin
On January 29, 1996, the world was introduced to two bizarre, vaguely humanoid, lizard-alligator-catfish creatures on Star Trek: Voyager. Only these weren’t the newest aliens to be encountered by the Starfleet crew. Instead, they were Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Flight Officer Tom Paris (Robert Duncan…
Source: io9 – Happy 25th Anniversary to Star Trek: Voyager’s Infamous Lizard Sex Episode, ‘Threshold’
A week after its logic-defying surge began, GameStop stock is still holding strong, despite more shenanigans and goofy twists, closing at $325 today. That’s higher than Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft. The bubble seems destined to burst any day now, but boosters on the WallStreetBets subreddit are continuing to hype…
Source: Kotaku – And GameStop’s Stock Is Still Going
Restrictions on Robinhood traders got tighter throughout the day on Friday, only allowing clients to buy a single share of GameStop. CNBC reports: The stock trading app also expanded its list of restricted stocks from 13 earlier in the day to 50. The restricted list tells clients how many shares and options contracts they can buy pertaining to a particular security. Robinhood customers can only buy one share and up to five options contracts of GameStop; however, if a customer already owns one or more share of GameStop, they are not able to buy any more shares.
Robinhood’s restrictions could take the wind out of point-and-click traders trying to jack up the price of GameStop. Robinhood, however, will not sell any client’s shares of GameStop that are already over the one-share limit from a previous position. The stock, which closed up 67%, was off its highs of the session as the new more severe limits were implemented. Earlier in the day, clients could buy five shares of GameStop. On Thursday, Robinhood said the restrictions would be eased on Friday. “However, the restrictions got tighter throughout the trading day, as the list of limited securities grew and the number of shares clients could buy shrunk for certain stocks,” reports CNBC.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Robinhood Is Still Severely Limiting Trading, Customers Can Only Buy One Share of GameStop
With The Cloverfield Paradox and 10 Cloverfield Lane, the idea of a “Cloverfield” movie has endured long past the release of the 2008 original. But we never found out more about that story. That monster. And now, that might finally be changing.
Source: io9 – A Direct Sequel to Cloverfield Is Finally in the Works
Netflix is experimenting with a mobile feature for Android that allows users to set a timer for the period of time they would like to watch a series or movie.
Source: Gizmodo – Netflix Is Testing a Timer Feature to Pause a Title After a Certain Period of Time
Python is one of the world’s most popular programming languages. It is a versatile language used to build all kinds of applications, from simple scrips to complex machine learning algorithms. With its simple and easy to learn syntax, Python is a popular choice for beginners and experienced developers. Building Python 3.9 on Debian is a relatively straightforward process and will only take a few minutes.
Source: LXer – How to Install Python 3.9 on Debian 10
In effort to plot a course for its own 10-year timeline towards becoming a carbon negative company, Microsoft is trying to instill some early seeds of conservation into a new generation. That’s why Mojang Studios is giving educators a way to teach their students about sustainability in perhaps the best way possible to get through to young
Source: Hot Hardware – Minecraft Sustainability City Map Helps Gamers Become Better Stewards Of Mother Earth
Johnson & Johnson released numbers today from their phase 3 clinical trials (the last step before applying for emergency use authorization) and it looks like we may soon have a third viable COVID-19 vaccine in the US.
Source: LifeHacker – What’s Different About the Johnson & Johnson Vaccine?
When Apple introduced privacy labels, it seemed to be a solid way to provide transparency for users to know what data is collected on their devices. This system relies on honesty from the app developers, but some developers crossed their fingers behind their back when they agreed to the privacy labels it seems. New research has shown that
Source: Hot Hardware – Developers Are Already Caught Lying To Users With Apple’s App Privacy Labels
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Sam Summers was sitting at home with his penis wrapped in an internet-connected chastity cage when he got a weird message on the app that connects to the device. Someone told him they had taken control and they wanted around $1,000 in Bitcoin to give control back to Summers. “Initially, I thought it was my partner doing that,” Summers told Motherboard in a phone call. “It sounds silly, but I got a bit excited by it.” But when Summers called his partner, she told him it wasn’t her, even after he told her their safe word. That’s when he realized he had gotten hacked. His penis was locked in the cage, and he had no way out.
Summers is one of several people who purchased a chastity cage device called Cellmate and produced by Qiui, a China-based manufacturer. Some of the device’s owners got their accounts — and thus their devices as well — hacked at the end of last year, after security researchers warned that the manufacturer left an exposed and vulnerable API, which could allow hackers to take control of the devices.
Scared and a bit desperate, Summers realized he had some Bitcoin stashed in an old account. So he sent the hacker what they wanted, hoping that would be it. But when the hacker got the money, they asked for more, according to Summers. “That’s when I felt fucking stupid and angry,” Summers said. At that point, Summers and his partner started brainstorming ways to get his penis out of the cage. At home, they only had a hammer, so they went out and bought a pair of bolt cutters. His partner tried first, but she couldn’t break through. So Summers had to do it himself. The way he was holding his penis put it “in a dangerous spot,” he said, so it was “very scary.” Nonetheless, he was able to break the cage, but the cutters still cut through him, he said. “I don’t have a scar or anything but I was bleeding and it fucking hurt,” Summers said.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – ‘We Spoke To a Guy Who Got His Dick Locked In a Cage By a Hacker’
Ahead of its return later this year, G4 will air a new series called B4G4 on YouTube and Twitch. It starts streaming today (Friday, January 29th). Among other content, the series will feature comedy sketches, game reviews and music parodies, with fan…
Source: Engadget – G4 returns today on YouTube and Twitch
Top Pick: Insignia 8-Quart Multi-Function
Source: LifeHacker – Upgrade Your Dinner Game With the Best Countertop Kitchen Appliances
Update Libgcrypt 1.9.0 now to replace the flawed library.
Source: Linux Today – Serious” Vulnerability Found in Libgcrypt, GnuPG’s cryptographic library
Carmat, a French startup that claims it’s making the “world’s most advanced artificial heart”, recently announced it plans to start selling its device in Europe in the second quarter of this year. That’s major, as currently there’s only one other company, SynCardia, which has received regulatory approval for a total …
Source: Gizmodo – This Next-Gen Artificial Heart Is Set to Go on Sale This Year
Enlarge / Starship prototype SN9 has not launched yet. (credit: SpaceX)
There were moments of high drama on Thursday afternoon, and again Friday morning, in South Texas. For two days in a row, SpaceX evacuated the handful of residents remaining in Boca Chica Village. Sheriff’s deputies cleared beaches and closed roads. And at the company’s launch site, a Starship rocket prototype underwent preparations for launch.
The vehicle was ready, with ground equipment venting away. The winds were light. And then—nothing. As the hours ticked by, the rocket remained on the ground. Unfortunately for SpaceX, the Federal Aviation Administration had not given its final approval to launch. It all made for quite a South Texas Showdown.
SpaceX, which officially said it was targeting a launch attempt on Thursday, has not publicly commented on what happened. Nor has the FAA provided specifics on what transpired other than offering a generic statement: “We will continue working with SpaceX to resolve outstanding safety issues before we approve the next test flight.”
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Source: Ars Technica – What’s really going on with Elon Musk, the FAA, and Starship?
Following the release of Wine 6.0 stable earlier this month, Wine 6.1 is now available as the first bi-weekly development snapshot that will ultimately culminate with the Wine 7.0 stable release next year…
Source: Phoronix – Wine 6.1 Brings VKD3D 1.2 Support, Improvement For Apple M1 Macs With Rosetta
The most recent episode of WandaVision was dynamite. It began to contextualize and answer questions people had in ways only a Marvel Studios show could while making the first three episodes even more crucial to the overall story. And if you think everything so far was good, this next video teases just how much more is…
Source: io9 – So You Thought This Week’s WandaVision Got Wild? Just Wait
