There’s a quote by Alvin Toffler, which I think about often: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” My first steps into programming took place in 1990 when I started playing around with HyperCard. I read the book, played with the tutorials, and experimented with HyperTalk, the scripting language behind HyperCard. The work was addictive, and I soon stayed up long into the night to build basic programs and learn more complicated routines....

While it may sound like science fiction, the demonstration by Elon Musk’s neurotechnology company Neuralink is an example of a brain-machine interface in action (and has been done before). A coin-sized disc called a “Link” was implanted by a precision surgical robot into Pager’s brain, connecting thousands of micro threads from the chip to neurons responsible for controlling motion. Brain-machine interfaces could bring tremendous benefit to humanity. But to enjoy the benefits, we’ll need to manage the risks down to an acceptable level....

The firm said that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accepted its S-1 registration statement and it’ll have the ticker symbol of COIN, which is pretty cool. — Coinbase (@coinbase) April 1, 2021 Coinbase has opted for a direct listing — just like Spotify, Slack, and Asana — instead of hiring a bank to broker the IPO. This means existing investors can sell their shares to new investors. The crypto exchange will disclose a reference trading price a night before it’s listed on the stock exchange....

Apple CEO Tim Cook joined Swisher and the two discussed, among other things, the mysterious Apple Car. Details are scarce and I’ll be right up front: Cook didn’t give away anything big or make any firm statements. But he did dance around the topic enough to leave a few impressions behind. For starters, speaking about the Apple Car, Cook told Swisher: We already suspected the Apple Car would be an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle, but it’s always nice to hear Cook confirm that....

During the teleconference, US Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios previewed a new database of coronavirus-related literature that the government plans to release in the coming days, and challenged the tech community to use AI to find insights from the data. In a statement, Kratsios said: Read: Coronavirus domains 50% more likely to infect your system with malware Two people familiar with the call told Politico that the White House had also asked the attendees to give the government any data they have that could help track and manage the virus....

“I’m a ruby developer!” “I hate javascript!” “Functional languages only!” Most developers would have heard boasts like these. In a world of endless languages and frameworks, it makes sense that some of us would choose our favourite stack and stick to that alone. But trends in the industry suggest that the rise of polyglot programming may be putting these developers at an increasing disadvantage. What is polyglot programming? Polyglot programming is generally defined as “the practice of writing code in multiple languages to capture additional functionality and efficiency not available in a single language....

Speed Python is slow, it’s well known that this language can’t perform side by side to other programming languages like C++, Go, or Rust (among others), but sometimes speed is not everything. Python may not be the fastest programming language, but with the right setups, libraries, and coding it can support wild volumes and process huge amounts of data. Don’t get too caught up with raw speed alone, most of the time you won’t need it....

In the beginning, Web 1.0 was the information superhighway of connected computers and servers that you could search, explore and inhabit, usually through a centralized company’s platform – for example, AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft and Google. Around the turn of the millennium, Web 2.0 came to be characterized by social networking sites, blogging and the monetization of user data for advertising by the centralized gatekeepers to “free” social media platforms, including Facebook, SnapChat, Twitter and TikTok....

To overcome this, a team that I am part of at the University of Cambridge decided to test various fabrics to see how well they would protect the wearer and the public when used in face masks. One element of fabric mask efficacy can be discovered by looking at how well various materials block virus-sized particles (from 0.2 to 1.0 micrometers). While some research had already investigated the ability of fabric to act as a filter, this previous work looked at only a small selection of fabrics and household materials, such as dish towels, scarves, and T-shirts....

Once upon a time, I bought myself a car. This was a strange time when I was wealthy on paper for a short period (about a year). It was a second-hand Jaguar, a metallic gray piece of art that rode like a dream… when it wasn’t in the shop. Not long after I bought it, I was driving with my two co-founders. The one sitting in the back was reading something, while the one in front and I were chatting....

That data will rewire the way businesses operate is now an inevitability. But to truly make the most of it, a DataOps function has to be included — it’s the only way to make use of data’s huge opportunity. As we head into the new year, here are my three predictions on how DataOps is likely to develop over the course of 2020. 1. Data hygiene will become standard Dirty, incomplete, and inaccurate data is currently the greatest threat to digital transformation projects with 8 out 10 AI and machine learning projects stalled due to poor data quality....

And while the media world is busy creating unique, binge-able content to earn brand loyalty, the business world continues to invest in tactics they’ve leaned on since the ‘50s — short video ads that do more to interrupt their audiences than engage them. The problem with this traditional advertising tactic is that it requires a huge amount of spend (and an enormous amount of luck) to make any sort of impression on your audience, let alone a lasting one....

WT:Social went live last month and is currently nearing 50,000 users. The company is rolling out access slowly; when I signed up, I was approximately number 28,000 on the waitlist. Alternatively, you can pay 13 bucks a month or 100 a year to get access right away. In comments to the Financial Times, Wales said “The business model of social media companies, of pure advertising, is problematic. It turns out the huge winner is low-quality content....

Quantum technologies are expected to impact many aspects of our society, including health care, financial services, defence, weather modelling, and cyber security. Clearly, they promise exciting benefits. Yet the history of technology development shows we cannot simply assume new tools and systems will automatically be in the public interest. We must look ahead to what a quantum society might entail and how the quantum design choices made today might impact how we live in the near future....

Lordstown, the electric car startup that was only founded last year, unveiled its debut vehicle, called the Endurance, yesterday. What’s more, the company is planning to deliver it early next year, which is one heck of a timeline. It’s expected to start at around $52,500, putting it in a similar price bracket to Tesla’s Cybertruck. “There are going to be five or more electric pickup trucks in the future… we’re going to beat all of them to market,” said Lordstown CEO Steve Burns at the launch....

The Speed Reading & Memory Mastery Bundle helps you read faster, retain more information, and strengthen your memory with practical techniques and skills. You can pick up the bundle on sale today for $29.99, which is 96% off the usual cost of this five-course bundle. Upon purchasing the bundle, you gain immediate access to eight hours of instructional content designed to help you amplify your reading speed and enhance your memory....

The device also has a massive 4,500 battery to boot. Here’s a look at its specifications. Specifications Screen: 6.53-inch full HD+ display Processor: MediaTek Helio G90T RAM: 6/8GB Rear camera: 64-megapixel + 8-megapixel wide sensor+ 2-megapixel depth sensor + 2-megapixel macro camera Front camera: 12-megapixel sensor with f/2.0 aperture Internal storage: 64/128GB Battery: 4,500 mAh Software: Android 9.0 Pie with MIUI 10 Xiaomi is using the recently announced Samsung sensor for its primary camera....

Rather than being anomalous or abnormal, the researchers suggest that SSB is intrinsic to evolution and that ‘different-sex sexual behavior’ (DSB) shouldn’t be considered a baseline for sexual activity in the animal kingdom. The reason why? Because the other way doesn’t really makes sense. According to a Yale press release: A generally held belief about SSB – the researchers don’t use terms such as ‘homosexual’ or ‘heterosexual’ when describing animals in order to avoid anthropomorphizing them with human sexual identities, which are different from sexual behaviors – is that it serves no evolutionary purpose....

For those who game, it’s likely your favorite creations came from work in one of two creation environments. Just like Coke and Pepsi, game design is dominated by a pair of game engine titles, Unity and Unreal. From Unity heavyweights like Fortnite to Unreal superstars like Pokemon Go, these two game incubators have helped generate most of today’s most popular game, while controlling over 60 percent of the video game creation market....

The company also believes the current situation will help it earn more money and beat analyst expectations this quarter. A Reuters report noted that Zoom expects to cash in $985 million to $990 in revenue this quarter — much higher than the analysts’ figure of $931.8 million. The company clocked in a revenue of $952 million for the quarter that ended on April 30 — a 191% jump compared to its performance in the same quarter last year....