Facebook and Instagram will more proactively lock the accounts of users its moderators encounter and suspect are below the age of 13. Its former policy was to only investigate accounts if they were reported specifically for being potentially underage. But Facebook confirmed to TechCrunch that an “operational” change to its policy for reviewers made this […]
Category: Technology
Evolving cloud services need flexible chips, and Portland’s Megh Computing thinks it can contribute
The artificial-intelligence renaissance of the last few years has transformed data center design at both cloud providers and inside self-managed facilities, putting more and more of a premium on specialized chips that can handle that research. Megh Computing, founded by ex-Intel chip engineers, hopes to capture some of that opportunity. Portland Business Journal reported Wednesday […]
This year’s iPhones might be the most durable yet, all thanks to Corning’s new Gorilla Glass
Since the very first iPhone, Apple has used specially-formulated Gorilla Glass from Corning, turning the niche glass manufacturer into a household name along the way. Corning specializes in using chemistry trickery to produce ever-more-durable versions of glass that can take impressive punishement, and in a press release today, Corning has announced that it’s debuting its […]
Apple releases third iOS 12 beta to everyone
Apple just released the third version of the iOS 12 beta as part of the public beta program. It means that everyone can now install a development build of iOS 12, the next major version of the operating system for iPhone and iPad. Don’t forget this is still a beta version. Things will crash, things […]
A new approach for narrowing down huge calculations by focusing on a single, predictive parameter
A team that includes nuclear physicists, a machine-learning researcher and an NC State mathematician has created a new approach for narrowing down huge calculations – such as those involved in quantum physics – by focusing on a single, predictive parameter. This approach, dubbed the eigenvector continuation, could prove useful in solving other scientific and engineering […]
Twitch is giving the people what they want: GIFs
Twitch’s next way of letting viewers interact with streams is with GIFs. The latest customization tool for the popular broadcasting service arrives via a partnership with Giphy, and the way it works sounds pretty simple. A broadcaster sets a location on the screen for where users can drop GIFs, and once a stream starts viewers […]
Nest’s CEO is stepping down
Five months ago, Google decided to rein in Nest. After four years as a mostly independent division of the company, Nest was rolled into Google’s hardware team. Today, more big changes: Nest CEO Marwan Fawaz is stepping down, according to a report by CNET. The reason? Employees at Nest had reportedly been pushing for a […]
A step closer to quantum computers: Researchers show how to directly observe quantum spin effects
With companies like Google, Microsoft and IBM all racing to create the world’s first practical quantum computer, scientists worldwide are exploring the potential materials that could be used to build them. Now, Associate Professor Yang Hyunsoo and his team from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty […]
Synopsis: Making Quantum Computations Behave
Calculations of a quantum system’s behavior can spiral out of control when they involve more than a handful of particles. So for just about anything more complicated than the hydrogen atom, physicists forget about finding an exact solution to the Schrödinger equation and rely instead on approximation methods. Dean Lee of Michigan State University, East […]
Apple Overhauls Leadership Page With Memoji Avatars for Execs Ahead of World Emoji Day
In celebration of World Emoji Day, which takes place tomorrow, Apple today updated its Apple Leadership site to introduce Memoji avatars for all of the key executives listed on the page. Tim Cook, Angela Ahrendts, Jony Ive, Eddy Cue, Craig Federighi, Luca Maestri, Phil Schiller, and the rest of the leadership team are now represented […]
Instapaper buys itself back from Pinterest
Back in 2013, developer Marco Arment sold his popular read-it-later app Instapaper to Betaworks, the company that had previously acquired Digg. Two years ago, Pinterest bought the little company to “accelerate discovering and saving articles on Pinterest.” Now, the very same team that’s been working on it for the past five years is taking Instapaper […]
Hybrid device harvests both mechanical and magnetic energy
A new hybrid energy-harvesting device may one day replace the need for batteries in certain low-power electronics devices. The new device collects ambient wasted energy from both mechanical vibrations and magnetic fields to generate sustainable electricity, which could potentially provide enough power to run wireless sensors, cardio pacemakers, and other applications. The researchers, led by […]