FCC commissioner: Our agency says all Americans are gaining advanced Internet access. It's wrong

The Covid-19 pandemic has us heading online for work, school, and healthcare like never before. Having reliable Internet access means having a fighting chance at maintaining some semblance of modern life.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/29/perspectives/fcc-broadband-access/index.html?source=Snapzu

Roger Stone Bought Hundreds of Fake Facebook Accounts to Promote His WikiLeaks Narrative

Thanks to a joint petition from Politico, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, CNN, and the New York Times, over 30 FBI search warrants into Roger Stone’s communications were unsealed on Tuesday.
Read more: https://gizmodo.com/roger-stone-bought-hundreds-of-fake-facebook-accounts-t-1843161716?source=Snapzu

Amazon is cracking down on internal communication after a surge in worker activism

The company says it’s more widely enforcing rules around mass emails as part of a routine audit. Some employees see it as an attack on worker organizing.
Read more: https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/4/29/21240049/amazon-internal-corporate-employee-backlash-email-listservs-worker-activism-coronavirus?source=Snapzu

Empty shelves don’t indicate food shortages

Do we have enough food and are we going to have enough food? Jayson Lusk, professor and head of Purdue University’s Agricultural Economics Department, said that is the single most common question he’s being asked as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the nation.
Read more: https://www.agrinews-pubs.com/2020/04/28/empty-shelves-dont-indicate-food-shortages/akd9c60/?source=Snapzu

MLB discussing plan to start season in late June, playing in home stadiums with realigned league

MLB is optimistic this week that it can start the 2020 season in late June, playing at least 100 regular-season games.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2020/04/28/mlb-optimistic-about-starting-season-late-june/3039275001/?source=Snapzu

New Evidence Supports Credibility of Tara Reade’s Allegation Against Biden

Former Biden staffer Tara Reade’s mother called into the Larry King Live show in 1993 and discussed her daughter’s time with a “prominent senator.”
Read more: https://theintercept.com/2020/04/24/new-evidence-tara-reade-joe-biden/?source=Snapzu

Apple to Pay $18 Million to Settle California Lawsuit Claiming Apple 'Broke' FaceTime on Older iPhones to Save Costs

Apple has agreed to pay $18 million to settle a California class-action lawsuit that accused it of intentionally breaking FaceTime in iOS 6 to force users to upgrade to iOS 7.
Read more: https://www.macrumors.com/2020/04/29/apple-pays-18-million-california-facetime-lawsuit/?source=Snapzu

Japan's Abe says impossible to hold Olympics unless pandemic contained

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday that the Tokyo Olympics could not take place next year unless the coronavirus pandemic is contained, as the city's governor requested an extension of Japan's state of emergency.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-japan-olympics-idUSKCN22B0QR?source=Snapzu

LinkedIn CEO Gives The Best Work From Home Advice

The Chief Executive Officer of LinkedIn, Jeff Weiner has shared his advice about utilizing the free time for work from home effectively. He always advocates for maximum productivity and has suggested a new approach related to buffer time.
Read more: https://www.hayvine.com/tech/linkedin-ceo-gives-the-best-work-from-home-advice?source=Snapzu

Google announces Chrome Web Store crackdown for August 2020 | ZDNet

Google plans to remove a bunch of garbage and useless Chrome extensions from the Web Store.
Read more: https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-announces-chrome-web-store-crackdown-for-august-2020/?source=Snapzu

Netflix movies list: All 57 new movies coming to Netflix in May

Netflix has announced its full slate of new releases for the month of May 2020, and it’s shaping up to be one of the biggest months of the year so far for the popular streaming content provid…
Read more: https://bgr.com/2020/04/28/netflix-movies-list-may-2020-release-schedule/?source=Snapzu

The 'mystery' of India's low Covid-19 death rate

The fatality rate remains among the lowest in the world, prompting both optimism and bafflement.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52435463?source=Snapzu

Google Meet premium video conferencing—free for everyone

Technology that connects us while we're apart helps keep us safe and productive. Over the past few months, we’ve seen the power of video meetings bring us together—whether we’re working with teammates, talking to healthcare professionals, sharing with loved ones, or learning from home.
Read more: https://blog.google/products/meet/bringing-google-meet-to-more-people?source=Snapzu

Some overwhelmed parents are giving up on distance learning and abandoning at-home schooling

Opting out of assigned schoolwork is an opportunity to learn in different ways, professor of education says
Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-growing-cohort-of-overwhelmed-parents-unengaged-children-drop/?source=Snapzu

This Is 'Creepy': Lawrence Wright Wishes His Pandemic Novel Had Gotten It Wrong

Lawrence Wright is not interested in saying "I told you so." At the beginning of his new novel, he writes: "Dear Reader, The events depicted in The End of October were meant to serve as a cautionary tale. But real life doesn't always wait for warnings." Wright's fictional tale is about a mysterious virus that starts in Asia, sweeps across continents, cripples the health care system, wrecks the economy, and kills people worldwide.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2020/04/28/846807025/this-is-creepy-lawrence-wright-wishes-his-pandemic-novel-had-gotten-it-wrong?source=Snapzu

Bitcoin Price on the Move and Over $8,000 as Halving Approaches

The price of Bitcoin is starting to kick into high gear as the mining reward halving edges ever closer. There are about two weeks to go until the amount of Bitcoin unlocked for solving an equation leading to a new block is cut from 12.5 to 6.25 BTC. This will, of course, have a significant impact on the mining sector, but it is also expected to impact the market itself.
Read more: https://thedailychain.com/bitcoin-price-on-the-move-and-over-8000-as-halving-approaches/?source=Snapzu

China is installing surveillance cameras outside people's front doors ... and sometimes inside their homes

The morning after Ian Lahiffe returned to Beijing, he found a surveillance camera being mounted on the wall outside his apartment door. Its lens was pointing right at him. After a trip to southern China, the 34-year-old Irish expat and his family were starting their two-week home quarantine, a mandatory measure enforced by the Beijing government to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/27/asia/cctv-cameras-china-hnk-intl/index.html?source=Snapzu

High school student makes clear face masks to help deaf and hard of hearing communicate

Face mask usage is more of a norm and less of a niche during the COVID-19 pandemic, with cities and states recommending that individuals don protective facial coverings before heading outside. But amid the new measures to protect public health, the deaf and hard of hearing have encountered some difficulties. Members of the community often rely on lip-reading to communicate, making it difficult to share thoughts, messages and ideas while wearing an opaque mask.
Read more: https://fox9.com/news/high-school-student-makes-clear-face-masks-to-help-deaf-and-hard-of-hearing-communicate?source=Snapzu

“Believe Science” Is a Bad Response to Denialism

Scientists saw it coming well in advance: a crisis that, left unaddressed, could kill hundreds of thousands of people. The White House ignored it, telling the public the problem was already contained. Maybe, senior officials speculated, it wasn’t a problem at all but another hoax cooked up by the president’s enemies in Congress, or by the Chinese government.
Read more: https://newrepublic.com/article/157442/believe-science-bad-response-denialism?source=Snapzu

Trader Joe's employee who is deaf finds new way to communicate with customers in face masks

Matthew Simmons uses sign language and reads lips, but with people now wearing masks, he had to find another way to communicate with customers.
Read more: https://www.today.com/food/trader-joe-s-employee-who-deaf-finds-new-way-communicate-t179945?source=Snapzu

Why a Startup You've Never Heard of Is Now Sponsoring a Bitcoin Core Developer

There are roughly 15 known entities sponsoring Bitcoin Core developers in 2020, and the Wyoming-based startup CardCoins just became one of the smallest industry players to join the pack. CardCoins has helped “over 10,000 unique users” convert gift cards into bitcoin, according to a spokesperson, with "millions of dollars of volume” last year. That healthy-yet-modest traction, which increased slightly since the recession hit, is dwarfed by incumbent crypto exchanges and custody providers.
Read more: https://www.coindesk.com/startup-cardcoins-bitcoin-core-developer?source=Snapzu

After ‘Tiger King,’ Celebrities Rally Around Passage of Big Cat Public Safety Act

After Netflix’s docu-series “Tiger King” became a phenomenon that essentially broke the internet in recent weeks, celebrities are rallying around a federal bill that would protect the kind of big cats that are featured in the show.
Read more: https://variety.com/2020/biz/news/tiger-king-big-cat-public-safety-act-1234591738/?source=Snapzu

NHTSA Isn't Doing Enough To Protect Us From Giant Trucks

Pedestrians are dying on American roads in greater numbers every year, and government regulators aren’t doing enough to stop it, according to a new report on pedestrian safety from the Government Accountability Office. Its chilling title is “NHTSA Needs to Decide Whether to Include Pedestrian Safety Tests in Its New Car Assessment Program.”
Read more: https://jalopnik.com/nhtsa-isnt-doing-enough-to-protect-us-from-giant-trucks-1843129168?source=Snapzu

Apple planning flexible batteries for foldable iPhone or iPad

New research from Apple details many different ways of making batteries flexible enough to be used with foldable displays in an iPhone or iPad, or to save space inside regular devices.
Read more: https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/04/28/apple-planning-flexible-batteries-for-foldable-iphone-or-ipad?source=Snapzu

$1 testing kits: Senegal's approach to coronavirus

Without much of a health budget, Senegal is being championed for controlling the novel coronavirus. From early-detection mobile kits to 3D-printed ventilators, the West African nation is demonstrating a possible model in curbing COVID-19, relying on their experience of managing the Ebola outbreak. In this episode, The Take is joined by Nicolas Haque, Al Jazeera journalist in Dakar, Senegal; Anta James, a regional representative for Catholic Relief Services; Dan Honig, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University; and Shannon Underwood, an immigration lawyer in Dakar, Senegal.
Read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/podcasts/thetake/2020/04/1-testing-kits-senegal-approach-coronavirus-200427143150262.html?source=Snapzu

Majority of authors 'hear' their characters speak, finds study

Some writers have always claimed they can hear their characters speaking, with Enid Blyton suggesting she could “watch and hear everything” and Alice Walker describing how her characters would “come for a visit ... and talk”. But a new study has shown this uncanny experience is very widespread, with almost two-thirds of authors reporting that they hear their characters’ voices while they work.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/27/majority-of-authors-hear-their-characters-speak-finds-study?source=Snapzu

Terry Pratchett novels to get 'absolutely faithful' TV adaptations

Discworld fantasy stories will be adapted for TV ‘in a form he would be proud of’ after BBC America’s controversial cyberpunk take on The Watch
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/28/terry-pratchett-novels-faithful-tv-adaptation-discworld?source=Snapzu

When Your Freedom Depends On an App

On the day Layla got out of prison and back to her home in Georgia, she was told she would need to purchase a smartphone—not an insignificant task for someone who’d just completed a sentence, but Layla was lucky to have a friend who could buy one for her. She says she was at home in bed a few days later when the app she had been mandated to install under the terms of her release went off unexpectedly, the high-pitched warning alarm blaring as it sent a notification to her parole officers telling him that she was not, in fact, at home.
Read more: https://gizmodo.com/when-your-freedom-depends-on-an-app-1843109198?source=Snapzu

Mark Shuttleworth on Ubuntu popularity and Canonical profitability

In the run-up to the release of Ubuntu 20.04, Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth spoke about Canonical's finances, IPO, and future in the days of the coronavirus pandemic.
Read more: https://www.zdnet.com/article/mark-shuttleworth-on-ubuntu-popularity-and-canonical-profitability/?source=Snapzu

HBO Max Will Be on Apple TV, iPhone and iPad at Launch

HBO Max will get an assist from Apple for the WarnerMedia streaming service’s May 27 debut, in a continuation of their “coopetition” arrangement. At launch, HBO Max will be availa…
Read more: https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/hbo-max-apple-tv-iphone-ipad-launch-1234590782/?source=Snapzu

Largest-ever Arctic ozone hole closes

An “unprecedented” hole in the ozone layer which developed to become the largest ever seen over the Arctic has closed just weeks after opening, scientists observing the phenomenon have said. The gap in the vital layer, which protects the Earth from harmful radiation from the sun, set a new record for ozone depletion in the northern hemisphere when it formed earlier this month.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/arctic-ozone-hole-closes-size-a9487961.html?source=Snapzu

A scuba diving group is making face masks out of recycled ocean plastic

In a win-win for sea animals and humans, a scuba diving group is turning plastic water bottles that once polluted oceans into face masks for people to protect themselves against the coronavirus.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/us/face-masks-ocean-plastic-coronavirus-trnd/index.html?source=Snapzu

NHS rejects Apple-Google coronavirus app plan

The UK's contact-tracing app is set to use a "centralised" system that worries privacy experts.
Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52441428?source=Snapzu

Pentagon formally releases 3 Navy videos showing "unidentified aerial phenomena"

"The aerial phenomena observed in the videos remain characterized as 'unidentified,'" a spokeswoman said.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ufo-navy-videos-pentagon-unidentied-aerial-phenomena/?source=Snapzu

Apple Is Developing High-End, Modular Headphones: Report

Apple’s no stranger to the audio space, but it would appear the company is now gearing up to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Bose and Sony. The next headphones from the company, according to a Bloomberg report, might be some fancy over-ear wireless headphones featuring swappable parts.
Read more: https://gizmodo.com/apple-is-developing-high-end-modular-headphones-repor-1842899696?source=Snapzu

Pompeii ruins show that the Romans invented recycling

Excavations reveal that rubbish left outside the city walls wasn’t just dumped. It was being collected, sorted and resold
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/apr/26/pompeii-ruins-show-that-the-romans-invented-recycling?source=Snapzu

Coronavirus 'currently eliminated' in New Zealand

After single-figure new cases for more than a week, NZ says it has ended local transmissions for now.
Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52436658?source=Snapzu

Apple iPhone 12 mass production delayed by a month, according to Wall Street Journal

Echoing other reports, the Wall Street Journal is today reporting that Apple is about a month behind on iPhone production. This means the iPhone 12 will likely launch later than the usual September window, as a result of the impacts of the coronavirus on the supply chain. Apple will launch four new iPhone 12 models this year, one 5.4-inch model, one 6.7-inch model, and two 6.1-inch models. This means Apple will be offering its latest flagship devices in new smaller and larger form factors. The current iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro lines feature 5.8-inch, 6.1-inch, and 6.5-inch displays.
Read more: https://9to5mac.com/2020/04/27/wsj-iphone-12-delays/?source=Snapzu

New WhatsApp rules lead number of highly forwarded messages to plunge

WhatsApp says that highly-forwarded messages have plunged since it introduced new rules. Earlier this month, in a major change, the company announced that it would prohibit people sending on "highly-forwarded" messages in an attempt to stop the spread of viral posts. The new rules mean that if a message has already been sent on in bulk, users have to go to extra effort to forward it on more. If a message has been forwarded enough to get a "highly-forwarded" tag, users can only send it on to one person at a time, rather than five.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/whatsapp-forward-messages-update-rules-a9485526.html?source=Snapzu

Brad Pitt answers Dr. Fauci's call to play him on SNL

Acouple of weeks ago, Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked who he would want to portray him on Saturday Night Live. "Oh, Brad Pitt, of course!" Fauci, the country's top infectious diseases expert and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, joked on CNN.
Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/brad-pitt-plays-anthony-fauci-snl-1500258?source=Snapzu

Sinking U.S. economy hasn’t hit bottom yet

The coronavirus capsized what had been the longest expansion in U.S. history. Now the wait is on to see how far the economy sinks before it finds bottom. A few dimly hopeful signs emerged last week as a pair of reports showed consumer confidence stabilizing toward the end of the April, largely on the flickering hope that the economy will start to rebound during the summer. Another poll found that Americans think four of five jobs lost due the coronavirus will return.
Read more: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/sinking-us-economy-hasnt-hit-bottom-yet-2020-04-25?source=Snapzu

Alarm Bells Over Rise of Antimicrobial Resistance in Aquaculture

Spain's daily coronavirus death toll dropped to 288 on Sunday, the lowest since March 20, as the country eased its lockdown to allow children outside for the first time in six weeks. The health ministry said the figure dropped from 378 on Saturday and brought Spain's total toll to 23,190, the third highest number of deaths after the United States and Italy. In total, nearly 100,000 people have recovered. Spain has confirmed, via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, a total of more than 207,000 cases.
Read more: https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/alarm-bells-over-rise-of-antimicrobial-resistance-in-aquaculture-333694?source=Snapzu

Kanye West Is Now a Billionaire, Thanks Mostly to His Yeezy Sneaker Brand

While the bulk of the rapper's income is generated from Yeezy, West also possesses about $200 million in other assets, including real estate properties and his music catalog.
Read more: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kanye-west-is-now-a-billionaire-thanks-his-yeezy-sneaker-brand-1291888?source=Snapzu

Beware of Russian and Chinese ‘Trojan Horses’ bearing pandemic medical aid

When I woke up and read the headline “Russia sent humanitarian aid to USA,” I had a flashback. I remembered the morning of Aug. 11, 2014, when Russia sent its “aid” to Eastern Ukraine after discussing this with Jose Manuel Barroso. The only difference between our countries at that moment was the size, military might and the United States wasn’t under Russian military attack.
Read more: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/apr/23/beware-of-russian-and-chinese-trojan-horses-bearin/?source=Snapzu

Restaurants’ bailout problem: Unemployment pays more

Restaurants say their industry needs its own targeted recovery fund because the bailout package Congress passed last month is making it more attractive for their staff to draw unemployment benefits than to continue working. The new Paycheck Protection Program waives repayment of small business loans if the borrower uses 75 percent of the money to maintain payroll, a measure intended to reduce layoffs. But with the expanded unemployment benefits included in the stimulus bill, some workers can as much as double their weekly checks if they stay unemployed.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/20/restaurant-bailout-unemployment-coronavirus-197326?source=Snapzu

Lebanon becomes first Arab country to legalise cannabis farming for medical use

Lebanon has become the first Arab country to legalise cannabis farming for medical and industrial purposes – a move that could generate lucrative exports and foreign currency as the country struggles to cope with a financial crisis. Although growing the plant was previously illegal, cannabis has long been farmed openly in the fertile and impoverished Bekaa Valley.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/lebanon-cannabis-legalisation-farming-medical-use-economy-a9477996.html?source=Snapzu

Windows 10 now has ads for Edge browser in its search box – is Microsoft going too far in pestering users?

Windows 10 is now showing adverts within the search box which are attempting to persuade people to switch to Microsoft Edge, in yet another move to promote the revamped browser which runs the risk of starting to irritate people – given how prevalent these ads are seemingly becoming.
Read more: https://www.techradar.com/news/windows-10-now-has-ads-for-edge-browser-in-its-search-box-is-microsoft-going-too-far-in-pestering-users?source=Snapzu

Coronavirus: A visual guide to the economic impact

The coronavirus outbreak, which was first detected in China, has infected people in 185 countries. Its spread has left businesses around the world counting the costs. Here is a selection of maps and charts to help you understand the economic impact of the virus so far.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51706225?source=Snapzu

A 56-Year-Old Finally Learned To Write His Name — Because Of A Coronavirus Lockdown

All his life, 56-year-old Pratap Singh Bora has been sticking his thumb in ink to sign documents. He didn't go to school when he was a kid. Little did he know that he would learn to write his first words at a coronavirus lockdown center during a global pandemic.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/04/25/844082712/a-56-year-old-finally-learned-to-read-and-write-because-of-a-coronavirus-lockdow?source=Snapzu

Asus ROG Phone 3: What we want to see

The Asus ROG Phone 2 was arguably the best gaming phone of 2019, packing capacitive shoulder triggers, a 120Hz OLED screen, and some nifty gaming enhancements. Things are heating up in 2020 though, as gaming phones like the Black Shark 3 series and Nubia Red Magic 5G bring the heat. Toss in the refresh rate wars across the industry in general, and the pressure is on for new gaming phones to stand out. So with that in mind, here’s what we want to see from the Asus ROG Phone 3.
Read more: https://www.androidauthority.com/asus-rog-phone-3-1108866/?source=Snapzu