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According to the company’s advisory, “What initially seemed like a simple defacement of our homepage has, with further investigation, resulted in the unauthorized and unlawful access to a backup file of the NetGalley database.” The database in question included sensitive user information, including usernames and passwords, names, email addresses, mailing addresses, birthdays, company names, and Kindle email addresses. Unfortunately, many users took to social media and started discussing the incident without thinking about what they are putting up for everyone to see....

Hola my socially distant amigos, What happens when “contact tracing” becomes ubiquitous surveillance? I’m asking for about 8 billion friends because I think most countries are about to start tracking citizens in order to facilitate a retreat from quarantine. When it comes to lifting the “shelter in place” order that exists in most areas, the experts appear to be leaning toward a basic strategy that involves contact tracing and normalizing the wearing of masks in public for the foreseeable future....

The team’s work involves silicon carbide, a naturally occurring semiconductor used to make all sorts of electronics including light emitting diodes (LEDs) and circuit boards. It’s also used in rocketry due to its ability to withstand high temperatures and in the production of sand paper – presumably because it’s coarse. What we’re excited about is its potential as a conduit for controlling quantum states. Today’s quantum computers – under the IBM/Google/MIT paradigm – are giant, unwieldy things that absolutely won’t fit on your desktop....

The drones can now fly through complex and unknown environments at up to 40kmph, thanks to a new AI approach developed at the University of Zurich. The quadcopter’s flight lessons took place in a simulation. An algorithm first piloted a computer-generated drone through a simulated environment that contained complex obstacles. This data was used to train the drone’s neural network to predict a flight path based on information from onboard sensors....

Well, perhaps esoteric isn’t exactly the right word. Although Latin is no longer spoken as a native language, its influence (and relevance) remains strong. It’s the basis for all romance languages, like Spanish, Italian, and even Romanian. Latin terms are dotted throughout the fields of medicine and law. And in some areas, the Roman Catholic Church still offers traditional Latin masses alongside those conducted in other contemporary tongues. Latin is also often found in mottos, particularly those adopted by sports team and universities....

University of Maastricht vice president Nick Bos announced at a press conference on Wednesday it had bowed to the cyberattackers’ demands, as it otherwise would’ve had to rebuild its entire IT network to get back online. “The damage of that to the work of the students, scientists, staff, as well as the continuity of the institution, can scarcely be conceived,” said university vice president Nick Bos, as quoted by Reuters....

The organization opened up its donation channels to accept a raft of cryptocurrencies earlier this week. It now accepts Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, as well as the USDC stablecoin, via a web app operated by major exchange Coinbase. Wilson, widely recognized for his portrayal of Dwight Schrute in the US version of The Office, appears in a promotional video to encourage “Bitcoin owners, cryptocurrency fanatics, and alternative financing fans” to donate....

Before we go on, here’s the obvious caveat to any Dyson Product: It’s expensive, starting at $650. You probably don’t need a $650 light, but if the price doesn’t make you cringe too much, read on. [Read: The Dyson V11… or how I learned to stop worrying and love vacuuming] Unlike many modern “smart” lights, the Lightcycle morph isn’t interested in home integration or psychedelic lighting for your next rave....

But when it comes down to spending your hard-earned money, you might be asking yourself which form of electrified two-wheel transport is best for you. I’m lucky enough to have been able to try a variety of these electric vehicles, constantly weighing the pros and cons of each, so I’m here to help. Why should I buy a personal electric vehicle? Let’s face it: getting around most cities is a pain....

Just when I think Elon Musk cannot possibly be more irresponsible and idiotic, he goes and pulls a stunt like this… and totally redeems himself. Okay, maybe not totally. Abusing the court systems to make calling someone a “pedo guy” okay isn’t exactly a good use of anyone’s time. And I still maintain that naming Tesla’s driver-assistance feature “Autopilot” is criminally misleading. But, all that being said, studying how space affects cannabis and coffee is something that could benefit all humankind....

The SpaceX founder was quick to laud Starlink’s success with a cute tweet, complete with satellite and winky face emoji. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2020 Musk’s apparent happiness is understandable, given that the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the satellites actually stuck the landing this time, after failing to do so on two previous missions. The tweet also coyly references the “taking Tesla private at $420” controversy of August 2018, which led to Musk’s ousting as Tesla chairman and a $20 million fine....

The Swedish company, which has already been supplying 5G networks across the globe, said that this 10-year partnership would help drive development of next-gen 6G networks, expected to be commercially available in the 2030s. The investment isn’t just a vote of confidence in the UK, which has been trying to protect its scientific research funding post-Brexit. It also expands Ericsson’s collaboration with other European countries working towards the development of 6G....

After launching the Essential Phone – a stunning device that was plagued by poor software but has improved significantly over time – Android’s creator has been pretty quiet. The phone’s original successor was nixed, but now we have the first confirmation the company does indeed have another product on the way, dubbed Project GEM. First Andy Rubin tweeted some mysterious no-context images today – his first non-reply tweet since responding to a New York Times report about alleged sexual misconduct....

Europol declared its intentions to help authorities with the announcement of what it’s calling the “cryptocurrency-tracing serious game” at the sixth Cryptocurrency Conference held from June 12-14 at Europol’s HQ, an announcement reads. The game has been developed in collaboration with CENTRIC (Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence and Organized Crime Research). It aims to give law enforcement officers hands-on training for tracing cryptocurrencies as part of criminal investigations....

But the rising Asian superpower is catching up fast: flying missions to the Moon and Mars; launching heavy-lift rockets; building a new space telescope set to fly in 2024; and, most recently, putting the first piece of the Tiangong space station (the name means Heavenly Palace) into orbit. What is the Tiangong space station? Tiangong is the successor to China’s Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 space laboratories, launched in 2011 and 2016, respectively....

As the name suggests, the iPhone 12 mini is a mini version of the iPhone 12. Well, you asked. In this piece we’re going to drop all of the relevant information you need to get up to speed on the device. Is the iPhone mini 12 different to the iPhone 12? This is the cool thing — the only difference between the two is that the iPhone 12 mini is teenier....

In the past month, Facebook, Silver Lake, and Vista group have invested more than $8 billion in Jio, picking up 9.9%, 1%, and 2.32% stakes respectively. The new investment values Jio Platforms at $65 billion. [Read: Facebook buys GIPHY, the popular GIF-hosting platform] Jio Platforms consists of the company’s carrier services with more than 388 million subscribers in India, and JioFiber, its broadband solution. Plus, it offers a bunch of other services including the music streaming app JioSaavn, entertainment apps JioCinema and JioTV, ecommerce site JioMart, which recently partnered with WhatsApp to connect grocery shops to consumers in their area....

Marcus was speaking at Money 20/20, an industry conference held in Las Vegas, in a bid to provide some insight into how Libra seeks to improve traditional payment rails by offering a novel, and secure way, of moving money. To make his point, Marcus resorted to examples including the internet, electricity, mobile phones, and smartphones noting that like them, Libra also has the potential to “change the direction of the world....

Facebook the social network, however, will maintain the same blue and white look you’ve been used to for years. For example, here’s how the app’s branding will show up on Instagram: Increasingly, Facebook has been about more than just its social network; Instagram and WhatsApp are huge in their own right. At the same time, the company wants to make clearer where these apps come from rather than having them act as completely separate entities....

The company revealed it’ll be distributing the funds via its Journalism Project, with the intention being smaller news outlets can use the money as emergency funding to help cover the COVID-19 news: CEO Mark Zuckerberg also added that it’ll be in addition to the $300 million Facebook pledged to support news last year. Goodness knows the coronavirus economy has crept into every aspect of life, so it’s no surprise that lots of media organizations are feeling the pinch....