The full list includes banking sites, travel booking services, education-related websites, music and video streaming services, and select news sites. Popular social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are still missing. As per the order, these restrictions will be effective until January 31. Last August, the government blocked the internet access in the region with an intention to maintain law and order after it scrapped the Article 370 of the constitution that stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its autonomy....

The AI and solar-powered marine research vessel is designed to collect environmental data that can deepen our understanding of global warming, ocean pollution, and marine mammal conservation. It will first spend six months in sea trials before attempting to replicate the Pilgrim’s transatlantic voyage in Spring 2021. The ship uses IBM’s computer vision tech to detect ocean hazards captured by onboard cameras, forecast data from The Weather Company to avoid approaching storms, and automation software to ensure that decisions follow international collision regulations....

Here’s a running list of all the companies and digital services paused or discontinued in Russia: Etsy: The ecommerce company said sellers in Russia and Belarus won’t be able to access the site after April 4. Meta: While other companies were shutting down their services voluntarily, Russian authorities banned Facebook and Instagram for “carrying out extremist activities.” Google: The search giant has discontinued its ad services in the country. And just like AWS, Google Cloud has also stopped accepting new customers there....

Data from GlobalWebIndex shows that ‘esports’ audiences have grown by close to 50 percent over the past 12 months, with 22 percent of all internet users saying they’ve watched a video game tournament in recent months. Esports win with younger audiences The number of 16 to 24-year-olds watching esports is growing even faster, with the latest data suggesting that global audiences in this age group are up by more than 60 percent since this time last year....

According to a report by New York Post, the retail giant is said to be quietly testing new scanners that can identify human hands to make a store purchase. The company intends to roll out the payment technology at its Whole Foods supermarket chain starting next year. The key difference is that the biometric sensors are unlike the ones you see on iPhones, meaning you won’t have to physically touch your hand on the scanner....

Apparently, people are really into the idea of letting a giant megacorporation fill their home with surveillance equipment. But there’s more to worry about when it comes to in-home surveillance robots than just privacy. If you can stomach it, here’s a pandering video of the “Astro” robot that everyone is calling “cute” and “adorable” on social media: The new Astro robot (it rolls) and the new Ring Always Home Cam (it flies) are among the absolute stupidest consumer products I’ve ever seen – and that includes a direct comparison to the spandex-clad human pretending to be a robot that Tesla recently rolled out....

Well, in today’s edition of Oh My God Technology Is Moving At A Terrifying Pace And, Also, Goddamn I’m Old™, there are rumors circulating that the Apple Watch Series 8 may include a feature that can measure the user’s body temperature. That’s right, before the Apple Watch Series 7 is even announced, we’re getting clues about what’s coming in the 2022 model. Truly, the wheels of the rumor mill never stop grinding....

The proposed settlement, which also promised a $100 million fund for small developers, is now in court for final approval. As a part of this, Apple announced some other steps such as agreeing to publish a transparency report for the App Store review process. The most noticeable change is letting developers inform their users that they can pay for digital goods or subscriptions through alternative methods — but only through email, and not via notifications or in-app promos....

That feeling couldn’t last though. On one hand, due to my crippling anxiety, and the other because I get paid to write about companies like Apple. So, when I rolled out of bed this morning I began digging. And something made me double take: Apple stopped selling its iPhone 11 Pro models on its site. Yep, if you go on Apple’s website you can no longer purchase last year’s top models, instead you have to buy the iPhone 12 Pro range instead....

Emerging technologies are promising to change the world as we know it. Self-driving cars, facial recognition, drone deliveries, and nano-technology-based healthcare are just the beginning. The eventual arrival of 5G, combined with a myriad of IoT sensors, will also remove traditional constraints and capture real-time information in new ways. High-speed connectivity and very low latency will make it even easier to connect more devices remotely in applications in digital environments where real-time network performance-critical....

Everyone working as a software developer has experienced it at some point. There comes a time when you lose motivation for coding because, at the moment, you can’t solve a particular problem. Some code is not working as it should be and you get frustrated with yourself and don’t know how to go on. Sounds familiar? My experience working in a bespoke software development company taught me the importance of being a team player....

While this is playing out, Israel-based NSO Group is considering shutting down its notorious spyware product Pegasus, and selling the company — potentially ending a nightmare of breaches of sensitive information and surveillance of prominent global figures and journalists. A report by Bloomberg noted the NSO Group has consulted advisors from New York-based bank Moelis & Co. to chart the road ahead. It said that two unnamed US funds have expressed interest in acquiring the Israeli firm....

No matter where you go, there’s no real substitute for one-on-one communication. When you can talk with another person face-to-face, there are few situations that can’t get resolved to some degree. Of course, that understanding and goodwill often goes entirely out the window when people don’t speak the same language. Frustration quickly sets in, no one feels heard, and few solutions rise to the surface. And that isn’t just anecdotal information either....

And with Brexit coming into effect, 2021 also saw a shake-up of European titans, with London possibly losing hold of its startup-ecosystem crown. One region that might snatch said crown is Benelux — the Western European region comprising Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Cities like Amsterdam and Brussels have not historically received the same level of investor interest or press as London, Paris, and Berlin, but they’re quickly carving out their place across fintech, climate tech, mobility, and more....

Laser eyes are something social media users give themselves to show they love cryptocurrency – and Bukele proved his crypto-enthusiasm last week by having El Salvador become the world’s first nation to make Bitcoin legal tender. El Salvador’s parliament passed Bukele’s proposed legislation on June 9, after he announced his plan just a few days earlier. The law will take effect in September. Some Bitcoin fans have leapt on this as a step towards much broader acceptance....

The headphones are priced at $329, which puts them a notch below the $380 Bose 700 that was the ostensible successor to the QuietComfort line (they’re also a little cheaper than the QC35 II, which cost $349 at launch). They offer a new noise cancellation system that is better at eliminating mid-range frequencies “typically found in commuter trains, busy office spaces, and cafes”; it sounds like the headphones are better at eliminating chatter, and not just the low rumble of an air conditioner or airplane engine....

The findings — published by cybersecurity vendor Check Point Research — reveal the ‘secure world’ present in Qualcomm CPUs, that powers most Android phones, suffer from a flaw which may “lead to leakage of protected data, device rooting, bootloader unlocking, and execution of undetectable APTs [Advanced Persistent Threats].” The findings were originally revealed by the company at REcon Montreal earlier this June, a computer security conference with a focus on reverse engineering and advanced exploitation techniques....

Short gamma ray burst are incredibly short-lived events (sometimes lasting for a matter of hours before fading), occurring far from Earth. These characteristics combine to make these events notoriously difficult to detect and study. The discovery of such an event nearly two years ago led to a hasty coalition of telescopes aimed at the enigmatic object. “We certainly did not expect to discover a distant SGRB, as they are extremely rare and very faint....

But when Cambridge Audio, a British company with a storied hi-fi history, decides to make a Bluetooth turntable, I pay attention – even if that turntable costs $1,700. A disclaimer: I’m not one of those audiophiles who think “vinyl is analog, so it’s more authentic!” I firmly believe that digital music is truer to the source. Vinyl is an inherently compromised medium that is inferior to digital recordings save for perhaps few recordings that might’ve been mixed better in their vinyl form....

Hi Remy! Thank you for this great question. The short answer, unfortunately, is no. White holes are really just something scientists have imagined — they could exist, but we’ve never seen one, or even seen clues that one may exist. For now, they are an idea. To put it simply, you can imagine a white hole as being a black hole in reverse. So if time was running backwards, black holes would look like white holes....