For those who aren’t familiar with Aadhaar (the site appears to be down at the time of writing), it is an ambitious project from Indian government which aims to create a database of the country’s residents along with some simple biometrical data, and later issue a multipurpose unique national identity number to them. This database can also then be integrated by other ministries into their databases for various government purposes....

While the device uses a similar type of folding mechanism as the Samsung Z Fold 3, there are certain design differences. The Find N is shorter and wider than the Fold 3 when it’s folded. As a result, it has a more traditional 18:9 display aspect ratio, compared to the tall 25:9 ratio on Samsung’s device. Oppo’s new device unfolds into a 7.1-inch display with an 8.4:9 (almost like a square) aspect ratio as compared to the 22....

Panasonic is testing an autonomous delivery robot in Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town, the six-year-old urban development initiative in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture. The first phase of the trial focused on testing a self-driving robot on public roads, began last month and will last until the end of the year. The second phase, which will start in February 2021, will see the robot provide home deliveries to residents in the area....

PayPal chief exec Dan Schulman told Reuters the company hopes this will “encourage global use of virtual coins,” and ready its network in anticipation of digital currencies issued by central banks. The US payments giant said it plans to allow users to actually spend their cryptocurrency with the 26 million merchants on its network starting early next year. PayPal reportedly boasts roughly than 346 million active accounts, and the service processed $222 billion worth of payments in 2020’s second quarter....

A group of Italian researchers recently programmed Pepper the robot to “think” out loud so that users can understand what influences its decisions. They suspected that this would improve its interactions with humans. They tested their theory by asking people to set a dinner table with the robot according to etiquette rules. They found that the robot was better at solving dilemmas when it used self-dialogue. [Read: 3 new technologies ecommerce brands can use to connect better with customers] When one person asked Pepper to breach the code of etiquette by placing a napkin on a fork, the robot used “inner voice” it analyzed the request....

The MicroBooNE experiment at Fermilab was designed to follow up on earlier hints of neutrinos behaving oddly, but the negative result deals a blow to the idea of such a new elementary particle. Neutrinos are lightweight, elusive subatomic particles, and current theories recognize three different types. In 1995, however, the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND) experiment in Los Alamos detected more of one type than anyone expected. Most attempts to explain the anomaly proposed the existence of a fourth kind of neutrino that barely interacts with normal matter at all: a so-called “sterile” neutrino....

During this time, I’ve seen banks dismiss the digital currency but declare their undying love for its underlying blockchain technology, and more recently open up about plans to possibly launch their own version. I’ve witnessed the wild conspiracy theories, the proofs-of-concept, the crime, the hype — you name it, I’ve seen it, and probably even written about it. Blockchain is clearly not the only emerging technology that’s gained momentum in recent years....

Players can buy the Remote Raid Pass from the in-game store, which will — as the name suggests — allow you to access nearby raids without being physically close to the site. In other words, you’ll be able to raid without leaving your home. Niantic’s also offering a few other ways to effectively play the game without going out, including getting an extra field research task and your Pokémon friends collecting gifts for you from Pokéstops so you don’t have to sally forth....

An official blog post promises to return trading fees (in Bitcoin) to impacted lenders until all losses have been repaid. “Every time you pay a trading fee, we will convert the fee to BTC and then credit you those fees each day. Your first credit will include all the trading fees you have paid since June 6, 2019,” wrote Poloniex. Poloniex supports peer-to-peer margin trading, a system in which users send their Bitcoin to a “lending pool” so that other users may borrow cryptocurrency to trade with larger stacks....

According to a survey last year, 54 percent of US Republicans believe in demons and 46 percent believe in ghosts. I mention this because, among members of the same group, only 44 percent surveyed believe in transgender rights. I haven’t found any data on what percentage of people “believe in” the existence of transgender and other queer people. But there is a near-infinite supply of anecdotal evidence indicating a large number of people – primarily conservatives – believe that some queer and transgender people aren’t supported by science....

The Dallas Police Twitter account asked anyone who had footage of illegal activity during protests to share it anonymously with the police department via its iWatch Dallas app. The app in question is a tipster app those who live in the city can use to send information to law enforcement. You can submit photos, videos, or audio recordings. — Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) May 31, 2020 Several people responded to the tweet with disdain, questioning the intentions of the department in requesting footage of the protests....

Kuo expects Apple to team up with third parties to create the first batch of AR headsets. This comes as something of a surprise, considering Apple isn’t known for letting accessory-makers get first dibs on new hardware. It’s unclear what such a headset would look like. It appears the devices would connect wirelessly to a nearby iPhone, which would perform the bulk of processing and relay the information wirelessly. For all we know, the headsets could simply behave like wireless stereoscopic displays while your phone does all the heavy lifting....

According to a Reuters report citing six sources, Apple once planned to bring end-to-end encryption to iCloud backups, only to back off after FBI pushback. The tougher encryption would have prevented Apple from being able to turn over data to the FBI even under court order. The FBI’s cybercrime agents argued that iCloud backups were the most effective way to gain evidence against subjects using iPhones, and it seems Apple was convinced....

General Motors Company (GMC) is planning to do just that with the Hummer brand which went defunct back in 2010, according to a Wall Street Journal report. People familiar with the matter say GM is set to revive the Hummer name on an electric pickup truck. Apparently, American basketball player LeBron James will help promote the 4×4 ex-military vehicle’s comeback. James will reportedly appear in a commercial during next month’s Super Bowl....

It seems we won’t have to wait too much longer: Brad Sams of Petri reports Microsoft will announce the Surface Book 3 at an event in NYC this spring. The company is also expected to announce the Surface Go 2, an update to Microsoft’s most affordable and compact Surface device – and one of my favorite PCs of all time. Sams says he does not expect a major design overhaul for either product, instead anticipating slight external modifications and major internal updates....

On its own merit, the Performance 620 is a fine projector from Vankyo. It throws a crisp image, doesn’t cost a whole lot, and doubles as a portable home theater thanks to its built-in stereo speakers. It doesn’t have any wireless connectivity and it relies on manual focus and keystone correction, but for a projector under $300 you’re getting a 300-inch HD picture that you can watch in broad daylight....

The lawsuit was filed on Thursday and alleges that Laura Schwab, the former executive in question, got fired after reporting gender discrimination to the company’s HR department. In addition to that, Schwab filed a statement of claim with the American Arbitration Association (ΑΑΑ) and came forward to the public in a blog post published on Medium. She states in the blog post: The “toxic bro culture,” as Schwab alleges, not only resulted in her abrupt dismissal, but also in her unjustified exclusion in the workplace....

Downey Jr.’s vision will take the form of an organization called Footprint Coalition, and it’s scheduled to officially launch in April next year. We don’t know much else about it just now, as the actor didn’t share many more details on stage; however, he did say he’ll be committed to the cause for next 11 years. Meanwhile, he’s making an AI docu-series for YouTube Premium in partnership with his wife, Susan Downey....

The lives of astronauts were temporarily threatened by a cloud of orbital debris — space junk — created by the testing of anti-satellite (ASAT) capabilities by Russia. What is not temporary is the threat that space debris will pose to the thousands of other functioning satellites that form the backbone of modern economies and societies. Russia blew up one of its own defunct satellites, and in the process, created over 1,500 pieces of trackable debris that will remain in orbit well into the 2040s....

Researchers study the salinity of deposits — the concentrations of salt in formations that were once exposed to water. They also look at the redox state of minerals — essentially, the balance between hydrogen and oxygen—in samples to better understand the sample material. Here on Earth, material that is exposed to the atmosphere becomes oxygen-rich, while samples from just a few inches underground show higher concentrations of reducers like hydrogen....