via @JackSchofield

As we seem to be reaching the light at the end of the COVID-19 quarantine tunnel, many of us question what this might mean for mobility, and particularly, for public transport. The lockdown has generally had the same impact all around the world: car journeys fell 50–80% and public transport ridership plummeted by even more, while cycling and walking had a relative increase. Asian cities awakening from their own “winter sleep” suggest that the western public will also continue to avoid using public transport, instead of opting to bike or walk....

Russia has sparked outrage by shooting down one of its satellites in a missile test on Monday. The move has created an enormous quantity of orbital debris, jeopardized the safety of astronauts, and reignited fears about an arms race in space. Russia’s Defense Ministry has downplayed the risks of the operation, but there are good reasons to be concerned. Here are three of them: 1. The ISS crew had to shelter in capsules The missile blew apart a defunct intelligence satellite and scattered thousands of pieces of debris into orbit....

Over the years, the European startup ecosystem has grown significantly. Within the last decade, the total amount of funding European startups have attracted has increased by 273 percent, and the number of unicorns has grown from one to 61. The numbers are good and show that we’re more or less on the right track when it comes to fostering innovation. However, there are a few aspects that make me question whether that’s entirely true....

It might not seem important that 88% of the semiconductor chips used by U.S. industries, including the automotive and defense industries, are fabricated outside the U.S. However, three issues make where they are made critical to the U.S. as the global leader in electronics: lower capability, high global demand, and limited investment. Lower capability The increasing reliance by U.S. chip companies on international partners to fabricate the chips they design reflects the United States’ diminished capability....

In just two weeks, more than 940,000 virtual Corvettes were built with the photo-realistic 3D tool that lets customers view the car from the top, bottom, and inside while choosing the car’s colors, wheel type, exterior accents, and more. Sure, it’d be easy to write this off as little more than a gimmick. But in reality, Chevrolet has tapped into what the future of buying will look like. I fully believe the future of shopping is 3D....

At the same time, art museums have faced substantial financial shortfalls accelerated by a decline in visitors and donations induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many have considered taking drastic measures, such as selling treasured artworks, to plug budget gaps. Can NFTs generate the revenue many museums sorely need? Some are issuing their own tokens, including the British Museum and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. The Miami Institute of Contemporary Art accepted an early NFT from a donor....

Speaking at a Tokyo press conference, Bitpoint president Genki Oda noted that of the 3.02 billion yen stolen, customers owned 2.06 billion yen ($19 million), while 960 million yen ($8.9 million) consisted of the company’s own holdings. According to Oda, customer losses represented 13 percent of the total amount of cryptocurrency users had kept on Bitpoint. He also pledged to repay victims (in cryptocurrency) once standard trade resumes. The theft, which included sums of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple, was disclosed last Thursday....

This objectivity is important in removing any potential bias from both promotion and compensation conversations. And because the growth of an engineer is a complex thing, I like to have a tool to utilize in that pursuit. I call that tool a “competency matrix.” At the beginning of 2018, I was working at CircleCI as an Engineering Manager, where we had 32 individual contributors and a plan to double that year....

Philadelphia has unveiled a comprehensive roadmap for how to increase ridership on its buses, streetcars, subways, and regional rail over the next 24 years. The Philadelphia Transit Plan, A Vision for 2045 aims to transform the city through a range of initiatives, including more equitable, frequent, safe, and environmentally friendly transport. “We cannot fully address the systemic racial disparities among our residents, recover from the current economic crisis and fight the climate crisis without investing in public transportation,” said Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney....

. Here’s a quick recap of what happened: President Nayib Bukele started building up the hype on Twitter, as the country announced Bitcoin as a legal tender on September 7. The country bought 200 Bitcoin, making it’s holding a total of 400 Bitcoin. To promote the app, and adoption of the cryptocurrency, Bukele promised each user $30 worth of Bitcoin. While the hype was building up, the country’s official Bitcoin wallet app, Chivo Wallet, wasn’t available on Apple, Google, and Huawei’s app stores....

With the Kurbis set, T&V appear to be attempting to strike a balance between performance and good value, and it mostly achieves that. These aren’t particularly distinctive in their design or packed with features, but they’re a neat set for those who are simply looking to enjoy crisp, clear sound in their bedroom or small living room. Here’s what you get for your money. Design and features T&V kept things relatively tame with the look of the Kurbis speakers: they feature traditional rectangular cabinets made of a natural polymer called Wood HDAA and wood grain-style exterior finishes in matte black....

As I’ve mentioned in my deep dive on AlphaCode, DeepMind’s researchers have done a great job in bringing together the right technology and practices to create a machine learning model that can find solutions to very complex problems. However, the sometimes-bloated coverage of AlphaCode by the media highlights the endemic problems with framing the growing capabilities of artificial intelligence in the context of competitions meant for humans. Measuring intelligence with tests For decades, AI researchers and scientists have been searching for tests that can measure progress toward artificial general intelligence....

Recent years have seen changes to our theories about what counts as a biosignature and which planets might be habitable, and further turnarounds are inevitable. But the best we can really do is interpret the data we have with our current best theory, not with some future idea we haven’t had yet. This is a big issue for those involved in the search for extraterrestrial life. As Scott Gaudi of Nasa’s Advisory Council has said: “One thing I am quite sure of, now having spent more than 20 years in this field of exoplanets … expect the unexpected....

A lot of these features such as Sky Replacement in Photoshopped are powered by Adobe’s Sensei AI technology. So, here’s the round-up of some of the coolest AI-powered features announced by the company. Photoshop Sky Replacement: The company showed off this feature of automatic sky replacement in a photo in September. Now, the feature will be officially available in Photoshop. The machine learning algorithm figures out the way around objects in a photo to replace the sky....

[Read: We asked 3 CEOs what tech trends will dominate post-COVID] Earlier this year, the retail giant unveiled plans to recruit 100,000 people across the US to keep up with increased demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this year, the Bezos empire faced backlash over its purportedly hazardous safety practices, which put the health of workers at risk. In response, the company introduced new technology to mitigate the risks, including a wearable device that alerted employees when they’re too close to each other....

For reference, here’s the previous version: And this was the first iteration: We’ve come a long way.

Clean design Truth be told, part of my interest in Ampion was its design approach; I’m a sucker for speakers with clean lines, and the Amphions fit the bill perfectly. The boxy white cabinet — framing a 5-inch woofer and 1-inch tweeter set massive waveguide — feels timeless; this is a speaker that could look good in your home for decades to come. This is in part because Amphion provides a rare option in the speaker world… colors!...

Domenicali explained that lithium-ion batteries may have significantly evolved over the years, but they’re still not advanced enough to store enough energy, while simultaneously keeping the current weight of the bike. He also hinted at the prospect of solid state batteries as a possible solution. This announcement confirms Ducati’s VP of Sales Francesco Milicia’s earlier statement that the company won’t produce an electric motorcycle anytime soon, as it “cannot guarantee the pleasure, the range, the weight etc....

The illicit XRP activity detected by London-based firm Elliptic amount to less than 0.2 percent of all XRP payments processed to date, which is less than other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. In press materials shared with Hard Fork, Elliptic chief scientist Tom Robinson attributed this to two main factors: XRP is simply not as liquid as Bitcoin or Ethereum, so it’s not as easy to “cash-out” large amounts of illicit cryptocurrency....