Clean-energy startup backed by Bill Gates hopes to replace fossil fuels
A startup backed by Bill Gates has found a way to combine artificial intelligence and solar energy to create extreme heat, essentially replacing the need for fossil fuels. Heliogen used A.I.-powered mirrors that can generate extreme heat -- more than 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit -- for the first time commercially.
NASA discovers water vapor — and maybe more — on Jupiter’s moon Europa
NASA has confirmed that one of Jupiter’s 79 moons, Europa, has water vapor above its surface, and possibly even a liquid water ocean, providing more evidence that the moon has the ingredients necessary for life. Scientists say that above the surface of Europa, there are plume-like configurations of water vapor.
New York sues Juul for allegedly ‘glamorizing vaping’ and targeting teens
Adding on to the extensive list of lawsuits, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a new lawsuit against Juul. The lawsuit alleges that Juul illegally sold its vaping products to underage smokers, and that the company’s advertising campaign does not mention that its products contain nicotine.
Tesla gets permit to start production in Chinese factory
Tesla received a permit to begin production of Model 3 sedans at its “Gigafactory” in Shanghai. The factory will be the first plant in China that’s owned by a foreign carmaker, and it will be Tesla’s first factory outside of the U.S. The Shanghai Gigafactory is one of four facilities that Tesla has running/in the works.
Google will offer checking accounts as latest tech company to enter finance
Google is the latest tech company to enter the financial world by offering checking accounts starting next year. Google’s financial project, dubbed as Cache, would have accounts run by Citigroup. The financial institutions would be the main focus on Cache, rather than Google creating a separate financial brand.
Libra Lite? Facebook Pay is the social network’s latest foray into finance
Facebook introduced a new payment system called Facebook Pay that would be accessible with Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. Facebook Pay is meant to make in-app purchases and transfer payments from person to person, make purchases on select pages or businesses, as well as on Facebook Marketplace.
Apple removes Like Patrol’s Instagram ‘stalking app’ from the App Store
The Like Patrol app that alerts you when your Instagram followers like or comment on a photo has been removed from Apple’s App Store for violating its guidelines. Like Patrol has received criticism as a stalking app since it lets its subscribers see every move that the people they follow make.
Juul discontinues sales of its mint-flavored pods
Juul is discontinuing its sales of mint Juul pods, citing studies released from different surveys. The announcement comes a week after a lawsuit claims Juul shipped out one million batches of contaminated mint e-liquid. The company said that all sales of mint-flavored Juul pods would cease both online and in stores.
Boeing wants to get to the moon in as few steps as possible
Boeing submitted a proposal to NASA for a human lander concept that would deliver astronauts to the moon in the fewest steps possible. The proposal is part of NASA’s Artemis program and is meant to reduce the number of segments that need to be sent into orbit—from 11 mission-critical events to five.
Ring doorbell security flaw opened the door to hackers
Amazon Ring has fixed a security vulnerability in its Ring doorbell that could have potentially allowed hackers to get Wi-Fi passwords and access homeowners’ networks to organize a larger attack on the network. Bitdefender found the vulnerability when the Ring doorbell is first configured to a Wi-Fi network.
AT&T to pay $60 million FTC settlement for ‘bait-and-switch’ unlimited data plan
The FTC ordered AT&T to pay $60 million in a settlement regarding unlimited data plans and reduced data speeds. A 2014 complaint alleges that AT&T didn’t fully disclose its policy to its customers with unlimited data plans that data speeds slowed down after a certain amount of data use.
Documents show Facebook used user data as bargaining chip against competitors
Leaked documents show that Facebook used user data as a bargaining tool for its advertising partners and leveraged the data against its competitors. Facebook would whitelist or blacklist companies from using valuable user data based on advertising spending or if the company was a direct competitor of Facebook.
Airbnb to verify every single listing by end of 2020 to bolster guests’ safety
Airbnb announced a new safety initiative for its customers that will verify every single Airbnb listing around the globe. The safety updates include 100% verification of listings, a guest money-back guarantee, a 24/7 Neighbor Hotline, and risk scoring. The company said it hopes to bring back trust to its community.
At $2 million per launch, SpaceX’s Starship brings cost of space down to earth
SpaceX’s much-anticipated Starship rocket could only cost $2 million per mission. Elon Musk said that the reusable passenger spaceship would cost $900,000 worth of fuel per launch, which added in with other costs, comes out to about a $2 million price tag -- a drop in the bucket in terms of space dollars.
Tesla reaches settlement with Walmart to bring solar panel suit to an end
Walmart announced it dropped its lawsuit against Tesla over malfunctioning solar panels manufactured by the company that resulted in fires. A Walmart spokesperson said that a settlement has been reached between the two companies and the stipulation of dismissal has been filed with the court.
Facebook wants you to take a selfie in order to verify your identity
Facebook is reportedly working on facial-recognition software that would verify the identities of users trying to access the app. Jane Manchun Wong tweeted out a prototype of Facebook’s facial-recognition identity login, which asks users to take a selfie by looking in different directions.
Artificial intelligence can now identify a bird just by looking at a photo
A new A.I. tool can identify up to 200 different species of birds just by looking at one photo. The technology comes from a team from Duke University that used over 11,000 photos of 200 bird species to teach a machine to differentiate them. The goal is to use the tech to classify areas in medical images
Microsoft’s A.I. project will replace human driving instructors
A new A.I. project from Microsoft aims to replace driving instructors during driving tests to ease the nerves of drivers. The HAMS project uses a smartphone mounted to the windshield with the front camera focused on the driver and the rear camera focused on the road ahead.
Facebook’s fact-checkers think the platform’s political ads should be vetted
One of Facebook’s content moderators plans to ask the social network to change its policies on political ads to allow for them to be fact-checked. The fact-checking organization Lead Stories will urge Facebook in a meeting next week to start fact-checking political ads by a nonpartisan panel.
ACLU sues government organizations over facial-recognition software
The ACLU is taking action against facial-recognition software by suing the DOJ, the DEA, and the FBI. The ACLU recently filed a complaint against the three federal organizations over their failure to release requested records and policies on facial-recognition software use.
Black market THC vape pods have killed dozens. Why are people still buying them?
At least 34 people have died from a vaping-related lung illness that has plagued the country in recent months, and health officials finally have a culprit: Black-market THC vapes. Experts say people are still buying THC electronic cigarette pods on the black market because they’re cheaper and easier to find.
Spooky NASA posters highlight the mysterious world of exoplanets
NASA’s newly released posters have a vintage horror movie look just in time for Halloween, and highlight exoplanets in a series called Galaxy of Horrors. The colorful posters are meant to be informative about different exoplanets that have been discovered outside of our galaxy and are free to download.
EA goes against the grain, brings its games back to Steam
You’ll soon be able to play your favorite EA games on Steam, including the new Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. EA games will launch on Steam in the spring. Steam users will now be able to access tons of EA Access subscription perks, such as discounts on games, in-game items, expansions, and more.
Tesla launches car insurance for its customers, promising 30% cheaper rates
Elon Musk's Tesla is getting into the insurance business: the company just launched Tesla Insurance to customers in California. The company said on Wednesday that they would offer rates that are between 20% and 30% lower than other insurance companies. Tesla said it would expand the program to other states in the future
Twitter’s #CashAppFriday hashtag is filled with scammers
What was meant to be a trending Twitter hashtag is turning out to be a scammers paradise. The #CashAppFriday hashtag asks users to tweet to their official account their “cashtag” or username, to choose a random person to deposit money to through the app. As it turns out, it’s proven to be easy for scammers to copy.
Twitter removes more than half of abusive tweets automatically
Twitter now removes half of tweets containing abusive content automatically without relying on content moderators or users reporting them. The social media platform’s 2019 third quarter report revealed that tweets that were removed due to abusive content were done so through improvements in machine learning.
REI will once again be closed on Black Friday, but it’s going one step further
REI is once again opting out of the biggest shopping day of the year and is instead encouraging its customers to opt outside on Black Friday by participating in a day of action. The store’s new slogan this year, Opt to Act, encourages its 18 million members to sign up for various cleanup events.
Watch Live: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress about Facebook Libra
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the House Financial Services Committee about Facebook's cryptocurrency, Libra. Here's how to watch live throughout his entire testimony, which begins at 7 a.m. PT on Wednesday, October 23.
Here’s how Mark Zuckerberg plans to defend Facebook Libra in front of Congress
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will argue before Congress on Wednesday that the social network's cryptocurrency, known as Libra, is essential to expanding banking access around the globe, according to a written version of his testimony released Tuesday.
Almost every state joins in on antitrust investigation into Facebook
Almost every state has joined New York in an antitrust investigation into Facebook. In total, 47 attorneys general are looking into whether the social media giant stifled competition in a way that impacted user data and ad prices. Attorneys general from both parties are part of the effort.
New bill would make it easier for you to get off Facebook once and for all
A new bipartisan bill aims to make it easier for you to transfer your social media data to other social media platforms, so you might finally be able to get off of Facebook. Called the Access Act, the bill applies to online platforms with products or services that have over 100 million monthly active users.
GoDaddy is down, with 2,000 reporting issues with accessing websites
Websites that are hosted on GoDaddy have been experiencing problems on Thursday, October 17, according to Down Detector. An outage map shows that affected outage areas are all over the U.S., especially big cities. At approximately 11 a.m. PT, there were more than 2,000 reports of issues with GoDaddy sites.
Bop it, twist it, pull it, grip it: MIT robot hand can pick up objects with ease
Engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have figured out a way to make a robot grasp an object quicker and more efficiently. It can take a robot tens of minutes to plan out the possibilities of the sequence, but with a new algorithm, it takes less than a second.
Hurricanes stir up ‘stormquakes’ at the bottom of the sea, scientists discover
The phenomenon of a hurricane and an earthquake happening at the same time now has a name: Stormquake. Scientists discovered this natural disaster combo in a new study. The study says that during a stormquake, a hurricane causes the seafloor to rumble like a 3.5-magnitude earthquake.
SpaceX could launch NASA astronauts on the Crew Dragon in 2020
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine made a visit to the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, on Thursday to get a firsthand look at the progress on the Crew Dragon rocket and provide updates on the important partnership between the space agency and the company.
Get your popcorn ready. Zuckerberg is set to testify before Congress again
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be back in Washington D.C. to testify before Congress once again, this time for the platform’s Libra cryptocurrency. Zuckerberg will be testifying in a hearing on October 23 titled 'An Examination of Facebook and Its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors.'