Sleep is a very complex phenomenon, so much that you can get a PhD in it (believe me, I did). If you don’t sleep enough, it can can hurt your physical and mental health. Some of the consequences of not getting enough sleep are: Weight gain Loss of memory Loss of concentration Decreased ability to fight infections Mood disorders We’ve seen that sleep restriction impacts cognitive function. Can you imagine how it would affect professionals that need to stay focused 24/7?...

Microsoft today announced a new feature for Word: a transcription tool that allows you to get spoken words into your document without you having to type all of them. We’ll show you how to use it. The new tool works with recorded audio and live speaking, and can detect different speakers. It’ll also allow you to pull quotes from the transcription and insert them as you please into the document....

A report from the Economic Policy Institute published last month found that for every 10 people trying to apply for unemployment, three to four couldn’t get through the system to make a claim, and another two out of 10 said the process was too complicated to try. Taken together, the study suggests, millions of unemployed people have been effectively locked out of filing claims. Applicants say they are dealing with an array of technical failures, including laborious phone verification processes, requirements to file applications only on certain days, call wait times of six to eight hours, websites that shut down for hours at a time, and user information issued by mail....

Naturally, the YouTube Premium ad came for me. It popped right when Joe Rogan asked Jordan Peterson a tricky question. Obviously, time expanded right then, and I couldn’t bear waiting. So I took my phone out of my pocket to skip the ad. Yet, instead of pressing the button, I froze. My observant eye caught a subtle marketing trick. The message box didn’t say “skip ad,” it said “skip trial....

Anytime a person gets tested for COVID-19, it creates a data point public health officials can use to track the spread and prevalence of the virus—but it also creates a financial opportunity for a private company administering the test. There is a multibillion-dollar market for health data in the United States, and those same companies that are now scaling up coronavirus testing, like LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics, have been making money from patients’ medical data for years....

But yeah, Apple’s iOS 13.4 update is here, so go download it I guess? It’s not like there’s anything better to do. What’s that? Yeah, you’re right! It’s not just iPhones that are getting this update. A raft of Apple devices have received updates today, the most glorious of days. The 13.4 update was delivered to tvOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices. While your Apple computer would’ve received macOS Catalina 10....

The research team developed the technique in order to build a quantum computing simulator. Binary computers – like the kind you’re using to read this article on – only understand ones and zeros. They work like a light switch, they’re either on or off. Quantum computers have a third option. They can be both on and off at the same time. This is because of a quantum property called superposition....

It said the sale would’ve caused “unacceptable uncertainty” over the future of the world’s third-largest domain registry, which is largely used by non-profit organizations. In a blog post, the organization said it’s dedicated to making the right decision to ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet’s unique identifier systems: — EFF (@EFF) May 1, 2020 Last November, Public Interest Registry (PIR), an organization that operated .org, said that it was handing over control of the ....

Many people thought this was impossible. Some were worried about false positives. But most were excited about the potential good that a widely used device with an ECG monitor might be able to do. Once the product was released, users quickly saw the benefits, and some even credited the watch with saving their lives. In theory, Apple’s ECG monitor shouldn’t cause such a stir. After all, the Apple Watch isn’t the first device of its kind on the market....

Sadly, before the Vikram lander reached the lunar surface, the team lost communication with it. Later, the lander was located, but scientists were not able to establish any contact with it. However, India will have another crack at achieving a soft landing soon. According to a report by PTI, the space agency is already working on Chandryaan-3 and aims to launch it by November 2020. ISRO has commissioned a report from a committee led by S Somanath, the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, which is responsible for all launch vehicle programs....

While the first part is easy, finding a slot is proving to be a nightmare for people across the country. When the central government announced the expansion of the program in April, it mentioned that vaccine manufacturers in India — currently only two of them — have to supply 50% of their monthly production to the central government and the remaining 50% could be given to states and private hospitals....

The platform already bans outright advertisements for vaping, guns, and tobacco on both Facebook and Instagram. That said, there’s always been some flexibility for influencers who are paid to promote the products on the platform. If a content creator makes a sponsored post promoting an item, that’s generally not frowned upon by the platform, no matter how bad it is or if it’s banned from being advertised. In fact, in its announcement of the new rules, Instagram’s business team notes that “Our advertising policies have long prohibited the advertisement of these products,” but it’s only enforcing them now....

Cookies may be one of the most maligned parts of the internet, but they weren’t always so notorious. Back in 1994, a young man named Lou Montulli developed the cookie as a way for website operators to help users save work by remembering them across multiple visits. The humble idea quickly caught on and morphed into a tool for advertisers to closely track user behavior across the internet and target their ads appropriately....

In the years since, we’ve learned how these kinds of targeted adverts can create political filter bubbles and echo chambers, suspected of dividing people and increasing the circulation of harmful disinformation. But the vast majority of the ads exchanged online are commercial, not political. Commercial targeted advertising is the primary source of revenue in the internet economy, but we know little about how it affects us. We know our personal data is collected to support targeted advertising in a way that violates our privacy....

Bezos’ Blue Origin on Monday announced plans to build a commercial space station by the end of the decade. — Orbital Reef (@OrbitalReef) October 25, 2021 The Orbital Reef project will be developed in partnership with Sierra Space, a subsidiary of the defense and aerospace contractor Sierra Nevada Corporation. The two companies describe the venture as a “mixed use business park” in space for both companies and tourists. The duo boldly declared that Orbital Reef will be “the premier commercial destination in low Earth orbit....

Generation Z is apparently not alone in its curiosity, either. According to KPMG, consumers from all age groups are increasingly willing to make purchases with tokens, over half of surveyed Americans aged 65 and up showed explicit interest in tokenization. It doesn’t even boil down to simple familiarity. Just one third of surveyed consumers reported to be ‘highly familiar’ with blockchain-based tokens, but 63 percent perceived tokens as an easy form of payment....

It normally takes a few years to develop a vaccine, but in the face of the coronavirus, biotechnology companies and regulatory agencies are taking aggressive steps to make a COVID-19 vaccine widely available sooner than that. I study biomanufacturing and synthetic biology, and it is fascinating to watch this unprecedented effort push at the limits of vaccine development. Public and private labs around the world are pursuing cutting-edge vaccine engineering strategies that have never been tested on such a large scale....

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has announced the creation of the city’s first Transportation Technology Innovation Zone – an area where private sector firms can test their transportation technology solutions. Designed by Mayor Garcetti and City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, the zone is one of the flagship programs of Urban Movement Labs (UML) – the transportation solutions accelerator launched in November 2019 – and aims to transform the Warner Center neighborhood into ‘one of LA’s mobility innovation and workforce development hubs’....

There’s a good chance we’ll see some other devices show up too — here’s what you should expect. Probably: New ‘M1X’ 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros We’ve been hearing rumors for ages that Apple is planning to announce new 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros in 2021, and next week’s event sure seems like the time for for it. The devices are expected to ship with a more powerful version of the M1 chip in the existing Apple devices like the current MacBook Air and iMac....

This is likely a bid to restore its plummeting user base, and restore some ad revenue. After seeing some success with Instagram Reels, the company began testing its short video platform within the Facebook app in India last March. Later in September, it launched this feature in the US. But is this global launch of Reels enough to right its sinking ship? Stonks The social media giant has had a horrid past few weeks....