UK security bill to introduce biometric age verification for social media registration

UK government will see the introduction of comprehensive rules to prevent online harms to children, including biometrics-based age checks.
Read more: https://www.biometricupdate.com/202105/uk-security-bill-to-introduce-biometric-age-verification-for-social-media-registration?source=Snapzu

Western Digital to Ship 20TB OptiNAND HDDs in November

But will it ever reach consumers?
Read more: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/wdc-to-start-shipments-of-20tb-hdd-in-november?source=Snapzu

Coroner actor Nicholas Campbell off the show after using N-word on movie set | CBC News

Actor Nicholas Campbell has apologized for saying the N-word while shooting a new film and is not returning to the CBC show Coroner pending an investigation.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/nicholas-campbell-impasse-racism-1.6231055?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar?source=Snapzu

Canada promises 73 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses for the developing world | CBC News

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Saturday that Canada will donate millions more COVID-19 vaccine doses to a global vaccine-sharing initiative as rich countries scramble to send more shots to the developing world to help curb stubbornly high case counts.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-promises-covid-vaccine-doses-1.6231465?source=Snapzu

Gunmen kill at least three at Afghan wedding to stop music being played

Killers said they were Taliban but government denies responsibility and says two of them have been arrested
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/30/gunmen-kill-at-least-three-at-afghan-wedding-to-stop-music-being-played?source=Snapzu

Apple Discontinues Intel-Based 21.5-Inch iMac

Apple has quietly discontinued the Intel-based 21.5-inch iMac, which had remained available as a low-end configuration suitable for educational...
Read more: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/10/30/apple-discontinues-intel-based-21-5-inch-imac/?source=Snapzu

Apple sued by Chinese students over iPhone’s lack of cables

A group of Chinese students is suing Apple for not providing a charger with the iPhone. Apple stopped shipping power adapters with new iPhones in 2020, claiming that it would reduce carbon emissions. However, students in Beiking and Shanghai have reportedly challenged this argument in court, according to Vice and the Shanghai Law Journal, arguing that the USB-C to Lightning cable that came with the iPhone 12 was not compatible with other chargers on the market. As such, the students were not able to charge their phone as advertised.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/apple-sued-china-students-iphone-cable-b1947083.html?source=Snapzu

Google makes waitlists for Pixel 6 Pro because it can’t keep the phone in stock

It’s hard to get a Pixel 6 Pro from Google right now.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22751527/google-store-pixel-6-pro-waitlist-in-stock?source=Snapzu

What will the world look like in 2050?

2050 is the target set for the world to reach net zero emissions. So what would life look like if we make it? And what if we get it wrong?
Read more: https://www.bigissue.com/news/environment/what-will-the-world-look-like-in-2050/?source=Snapzu

Skin patch coated in covid-19 vaccine may work better than injections

Covid-19 vaccines in use today have to be stored at cold temperatures, but a patch covered in tiny plastic spikes coated in a vaccine could provide an alternative.
Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2294967-skin-patch-coated-in-covid-19-vaccine-may-work-better-than-injections/?source=Snapzu

Abandoned Walmart is Now America’s Largest 1-Floor Library

There are thousands of abandoned big box stores sitting empty all over America, including hundreds of former Walmart stores. With each store taking up enough space for 2.5 football fields, Walmart’s use of more than 698 million square feet of land in the U.S. is one of its biggest environmental impacts. But at least one of those buildings has been transformed into something arguably much more useful: the nation’s largest library.
Read more: https://weburbanist.com/2012/09/04/abandoned-walmart-now-americas-largest-library/?source=Snapzu

TV drama shows Colin Kaepernick before he took the knee

When American football star Colin Kaepernick took the knee during a national anthem, he became an overnight symbol of the protest and division over race in the US. He has now worked with Netflix to show what set a sport-mad teenager on the path to becoming a civil rights standard bearer.
Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-58994604.amp?source=Snapzu

Google rolls out tool to help minors delete photos from search

Google is now making it easier for minors or their parents to have photos of them deleted from search results. In a blog post published Wednesday, the company said it is rolling out a tool that lets parents and kids under the age of 18 request photos be removed from its images tab or no longer appear as thumbnails in a search inquiry.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/27/tech/google-remove-photos-minors/index.html?source=Snapzu

Fossil fuels doomed in New York as regulator blocks new gas power plants

New York took an aggressive stance toward fossil fuels this week, effectively killing the development of new fossil fuel power plants in the state. The Department of Environmental Conservation denied permits for two proposed natural gas power plants, saying they were incompatible with the state’s climate law, which calls for an end to fossil fuel-generated electricity by 2040.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/10/fossil-fuels-doomed-in-new-york-as-regulator-blocks-new-gas-power-plants/?source=Snapzu

Brain implant may lift most severe depression

An electrical implant that sits in the skull and is wired to the brain can detect and treat severe depression, US scientists believe after promising results with a first patient. Sarah, who is 36, had the device fitted more than a year ago and says it has turned her life around. The matchbox-sized pack in her head is always "on" but only delivers an impulse when it senses she may need it.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-58719089?source=Snapzu

Microsoft has quietly turned itself into a real rival to Facebook and Instagram by taking a 'purpose-built' approach to social media

Between Xbox Live, LinkedIn, GitHub, and other initiatives, Microsoft has quietly made itself into a social media superpower.
Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/satya-nadella-reshaped-microsofts-social-network-business-2021-10?source=Snapzu

‘Yeah, we’re spooked’: AI starting to have big real-world impact, says expert

A scientist who wrote a leading textbook on artificial intelligence has said experts are “spooked” by their own success in the field, comparing the advance of AI to the development of the atom bomb. Prof Stuart Russell, the founder of the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence at the University of California, Berkeley, said most experts believed that machines more intelligent than humans would be developed this century, and he called for international treaties to regulate the development of the technology.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/29/yeah-were-spooked-ai-starting-to-have-big-real-world-impact-says-expert?source=Snapzu

FDA authorizes Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children 5-11

The Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency authorization for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in children ages 5 to 11. The FDA's authorization follows the recommendation of its independent advisory committee, which earlier this week voted nearly unanimously in favor of authorizing the vaccine. The committee of 18 voting members voted 17 to 0 in favor, with one abstention.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/10/fda-authorizes-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-for-children-5-11/?source=Snapzu

Australian entertainment icon Bert Newton dies aged 83

Bert Newton, a legend of Australian TV and radio, has died at age 83. Newton was a Logie Hall of Fame inductee, quadruple Gold Logie-winning entertainer and a radio, theatre and television personality and presenter.
Read more: https://www.9news.com.au/national/showbusiness-icon-bert-newton-dies-aged-83/60525fe7-4fc1-4b4e-812a-b9be05ac65f9?source=Snapzu

Apple explains why it hasn't added a touchscreen or Face ID to the Mac

While the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro updates have been broadly well-received by reviewers and consumers alike, there are still questions about missing features like a touchscreen and Face ID. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Apple executives justified the company’s resistance to adding these features to the Mac.
Read more: https://9to5mac.com/2021/10/29/apple-touchscreen-mac-interview-ipad/?source=Snapzu

New York state health care workers will no longer have religious exemption to Covid-19 vaccine mandate, court rules

New York State health care workers will no longer have a religious exemption to the state's Covid-19 vaccine mandate after a federal appeals court vacated a temporary injunction Friday. The three-judge panel in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit also sent the two court cases back to the lower courts to continue.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/29/us/ny-state-health-care-workers-religious-exemption-ruling/index.html?source=Snapzu

North America’s first whale sanctuary is taking shape in rural Nova Scotia

The plan to build North America’s first wild refuge for whales retired from marine parks was poised to take a big step forward Friday in a remote corner of northeastern Nova Scotia. The Whale Sanctuary Project is expected to officially open its visitor and operations centre in Sherbrooke, N.S., marking the first time the U.S.-based conservation group has moved from the planning phase to actually building something.
Read more: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-north-americas-first-whale-sanctuary-is-taking-shape-in-rural-nova/?source=Snapzu

Google Play Store removes over a dozen malicious Android utility apps

Researchers unable to figure out the intentions of threat actors behind the cleverly-disguised malware
Read more: https://www.techradar.com/news/google-play-store-removes-over-a-dozen-malicious-android-utility-apps?source=Snapzu

Microsoft passes Apple to become the world's most valuable company

Microsoft and Apple have each had their turn as the world's most valuable company.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/29/microsoft-passes-apple-to-become-the-worlds-most-valuable-company-.html?source=Snapzu

Two Chinese teams claim to have reached primacy with quantum computers

Two teams in China are claiming that they have reached primacy with their individual quantum computers. Both have published the details of their work in the journal Physical Review Letters. In the computer world, quantum primacy is the performance of calculations that are not feasible on conventional computers—others use the term "quantum advantage."
Read more: https://phys.org/news/2021-10-chinese-teams-primacy-quantum.html?source=Snapzu

Apple has most loyal smartphone customers in US, study finds

A vast majority of Apple's iPhone customers stick with the platform, with the company estimated to have curated the highest brand loyalty out of any smartphone manufacturer operating in the U.S., according to a new study released this week.
Read more: https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/10/29/apple-has-most-loyal-smartphone-customers-in-us-study-finds?source=Snapzu

Uber aims for 50,000 Teslas on its platform by 2023

Uber drivers will pay a weekly rate of $334 for a Model 3.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/27/22747184/uber-tesla-rent-drivers-hertz-cost-2023?source=Snapzu

UK teen sentenced to 35 years for devil-pact double murder

A British teenager who murdered two sisters in a London park as part of a pact he believed he had made with demonic forces to kill women every six months in exchange for a future lottery win has been jailed for a minimum of 35 years.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-teen-sentenced-35-years-devil-pact-double-murder-2021-10-28/?source=Snapzu

Microsoft Overtakes Apple as World's Most Valuable Company

Microsoft has overtaken Apple as the world's most valuable company, making the Cupertino tech giant the second most valuable in the world, followed by Saudi oil giant Aramco.
Read more: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/10/29/microsoft-worlds-most-valuable-company/?source=Snapzu

Microsoft buys moderation company Two Hat to keep the Xbox community safe

Microsoft has acquired content moderation company Two Hat for an undisclosed fee. The tech giant said the deal will allow it to build better online experiences for its various communities, including those on Xbox. Microsoft and Two Hat have prevously worked together to implement proactive moderation technology into gaming experiences, including tools that detect and remove harmful content before it can reach players.
Read more: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/microsoft-buys-moderation-company-two-hat-to-keep-the-xbox-community-safe?source=Snapzu

Jupiter's Great Red Spot is even deeper than scientists had thought

It's hard to imagine the sheer scale of Jupiter's Great Red Spot from here on Earth, because the storm is so big that it could swallow our planet. Now, it turns out, the Great Red Spot isn't just wide: it's deep too, quite a bit deeper than anybody expected. Data from NASA's Juno spacecraft has shown that the behemoth storm extends as much as 310 miles (500 kilometers) beneath Jupiter's cloud tops. And the Jupiter maelstrom is linked to jets that go far deeper, hinting that the giant planet's upper and lower atmospheres are tied together.
Read more: https://www.space.com/jupiter-great-red-spot-deeper-than-thought?source=Snapzu

Tech giants try distancing themselves from Facebook

TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube are the latest technology giants to have been quizzed by US senators over concerns about their youngest users' safety. During nearly four hours of questioning, on Monday, they tried to differentiate themselves from Facebook, which has faced increasing scrutiny from politicians in recent months.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-59065666?source=Snapzu

Cracking the code of unbreakable phone screens

Unbreakable phone screens might seem too good to be true, but some chemical engineers reckon they’ve cracked the secret, developing a new material that combines glass with nanocrystals to make a resilient screen that would produce high-quality images in phones, LEDs and computers. The breakthrough substance could even be used to make phone screens that double as solar panels.
Read more: https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/materials/unbreakable-phone-screens/?source=Snapzu

Streaming’s dirty secret: how viewing Netflix top 10 creates vast quantity of CO2

Streaming has a dirty secret. The carbon footprint produced by fans watching a month of Netflix’s top 10 global TV hits is equivalent to driving a car a hefty distance beyond Saturn. The world’s largest video-sharing site, YouTube, is responsible for emitting enough carbon dioxide annually to far surpass the equivalent greenhouse gas output of Glasgow, the Scottish city where world leaders will be gathering from Sunday at the Cop26 climate summit.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/oct/29/streamings-dirty-secret-how-viewing-netflix-top-10-creates-vast-quantity-of-co2?source=Snapzu

Facebook Is Killing Oculus

Facebook, which today changed its name to Meta just for fun, is making changes to its virtual reality division to match its rebrand. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth announced that the company would transition away from the Oculus branding beginning in 2022.
Read more: https://gizmodo.com/facebook-is-killing-oculus-1847959708?source=Snapzu

SteelSeries’ latest headsets have better battery life and USB-C charging

SteelSeries’ new Arctis 7 Plus and 7P Plus wireless headsets have two key improvements over their predecessors: better battery life, going up to 30 hours per charge from 24 hours with three hours of use from a 15-minute fast charge, and USB-C charging. Most other major headset makers have used that connector for years now, but SteelSeries has been oddly slow to adopt it, even though it has shipped its clever USB-C audio transmitter with select headsets since 2019.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/29/22726734/steelseries-arctis-7-7p-plus-battery-life-usb-c-features-price-compatibility?source=Snapzu

Young People Around The World Report High Levels Of Climate Anxiety

In the past few years, the effects of climate change have become undeniably apparent. In the last two years alone, headlines have been full of climate disasters — from forest fire smoke turning San Francisco’s sky luminous red, to torrential flooding in Germany and China.
Read more: https://digest.bps.org.uk/2021/10/29/young-people-around-the-world-report-high-levels-of-climate-anxiety/?source=Snapzu

World is failing to make changes needed to avoid climate breakdown, report finds

Every corner of society is failing to take the “transformational change” needed to avert the most disastrous consequences of the climate crisis, with trends either too slow or in some cases even regressing, according to a major new global analysis.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/28/world-failing-make-changes-avoid-climate-breakdown-report?source=Snapzu

US Copyright Office says you can fix a game console (but only the optical drive)

The librarian of Congress has provided a new exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that will let people repair optical drives on video game consoles. The new rule will also allow users to perform "diagnosis, maintenance, and repair" of other types of software-enabled devices marketed to consumers.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/10/us-copyright-office-oks-right-to-repair-for-video-game-console-optical-drives/?source=Snapzu

Human species who lived 500,000 years ago named as Homo bodoensis

Species was direct ancestor of early humans in Africa and discovery has led to reassessment of epoch
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/oct/28/human-species-homo-bodoensis-who-lived-500000-years-ago-is-named?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other?source=Snapzu

Dr. Dre Reportedly Making New Music For Grand Theft Auto

Leave it to Snoop Dogg to deliver some of the biggest news of the day. Snoop Dogg says Dr. Dre is working on new music for an upcoming Grand Theft Auto game. Snoop Dogg revealed the news while as a guest on the Rolling Stone Music Now Podcast. In an episode that will air on Friday, Snoop said, "I do know [Dr. Dre] is in the studio... I do know he's making great f***ing music.
Read more: https://www.ign.com/articles/dr-dre-grand-theft-auto-new-music?source=Snapzu

World is failing to make changes needed to avoid climate breakdown, report finds

Every corner of society is failing to take the “transformational change” needed to avert the most disastrous consequences of the climate crisis, with trends either too slow or in some cases even regressing, according to a major new global analysis.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/28/world-failing-make-changes-avoid-climate-breakdown-report?source=Snapzu

Apple Reveals 'Scale to Fit' Setting to Prevent a Mac App's Menu Bar Items From Being Hidden Under Notch

Apple today shared a new support document that explains how users can ensure that an app's menu bar items do not appear hidden behind the notch, or the "camera housing" as Apple calls it, on the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
Read more: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/10/28/scale-to-fit-below-built-in-camera-setting-notch/?source=Snapzu

Google rolls out tool to help minors delete photos from search

Google is now making it easier for minors or their parents to have photos of them deleted from search results. In a blog post published Wednesday, the company said it is rolling out a tool that lets parents and kids under the age of 18 request photos be removed from its images tab or no longer appear as thumbnails in a search inquiry.
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/27/tech/google-remove-photos-minors/index.html?source=Snapzu

GameStop Seeks Software Developer for NFTs as Market Heats Up

GameStop has posted at least eight NFT and “Web3 gaming” job positions. The gaming retailer has not yet officially revealed its intentions, but the posting suggests GameStop might be looking to build an Ethereum-based Web3 arm.
Read more: https://tokenist.com/gamestop-seeks-software-developer-for-nfts-as-market-heats-up/?source=Snapzu

Scientists say whales could offer a natural solution to climate change

There’s no doubt that whales are one of the most extraordinary animals on our planet, but did you know that they’re also helping to lighten the load of climate change? We tend to think of trees as doing the bulk of natural work to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. While that’s certainly true on land, under the sea these titans of the ocean are playing a huge role.
Read more: https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/10/27/restoring-whales-to-their-pre-hunted-numbers-could-capture-1-7-billion-tonnes-of-co2-a-yea?source=Snapzu

Ayrton Senna's father has passed away at 94

Milton da Silva, the father of the late Ayrton Senna and the grand-father of former F1 driver Bruno Senna, died on Wednesday in Sao Paulo at the age of 94 from natural causes. Although the three-time world champion raced under his mother's surname, his father was a quiet but enduring force in Senna's life.
Read more: https://f1i.com/news/422713-ayrton-sennas-father-has-passed-away-at-94.html?source=Snapzu

United States issues its 1st passport with 'X' gender marker

The United States has issued its first passport with an “X” gender designation, marking a milestone in the recognition of the rights of people who do not identify as male or female, and expects to be able to offer the option more broadly next year, the State Department said Wednesday.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/us-passports-x-gender-designation-2c29e18fc6566d549b9a06fda0857602?source=Snapzu

Whistleblower: Facebook's response to child abuse 'inadequate'

A former Facebook employee has told US authorities the company's efforts to remove child abuse material from the platform were "inadequate" and "under-resourced". The allegations are contained in documents seen by BBC News and submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) two weeks ago.
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-59063768?source=Snapzu

Facebook is now Meta, but critics say same old problems remain

Facebook officially launched its new name on Thursday, one that focuses attention on where it sees its future while drawing attention away from its contentious present and past.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/facebook-metaverse-1.6228377?source=Snapzu