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Tech NewsDoD: Sorry, Amazon, Microsoft’s Still Getting That $10 Billion JEDI Contract. Sucks to Suck.
After a monthslong investigation by the Pentagon, the Department of Defense said Friday that it’s sticking with Microsoft for its $10 billion cloud computing contract. And Amazon is not happy. As a quick refresher: Microsoft was originally awarded the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, contract in October 2019 after facing off against other tech … Continued
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EartherEleven Elephants Were Found Dead in Zimbabwe And No One Knows Why
Park authorities in Zimbabwe are investigating the mysterious death of 11 elephants in the western region of the country after ruling out cyanide poisoning and poaching, according to a Sunday Associated Press report. The carcasses were first discovered on Friday in Pandamascue Forest, between Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe’s largest natural reserve, and Victoria Falls. The … Continued
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Tech NewsUh Oh, Here’s Why the Internet Broke Again
Widespread internet outages knocked down Cloudflare, the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, Amazon, Hulu, and a slew of other sites on Sunday morning, and it’s apparently all because of a single internet service provider: CenturyLink. Given that Cloudflare’s online security services are designed to keep websites up and running, when it went down, so did dozens … Continued
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Tech NewsPoliticsGoogle Failed to Remove Misleading Ads About Voting By Mail Because of a Technicality. Blegh.
Google reportedly took five days to review misleading ads from an organization that echoes the president’s crock about voting by mail, and then declined to take them down essentially because of a technicality. According to a Washington Post report this week, the ads aimed to discourage voters from using the U.S. Postal Service, which President … Continued
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Tech NewsSocial MediaZuckerberg Admits That Facebook Screwed Up by Ignoring Militia Group Complaints Before Kenosha Shooting
Facebook made “an operational mistake” in ignoring reports about a page encouraging an armed militia to “defend” Kenosha, Wisconsin, against Black Lives Matter protesters, CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged in a video post Friday. The “Kenosha Guard” page, which clearly violated Facebook’s policies against promoting violence, stayed up a full nine hours after an armed vigilante … Continued
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ScienceHealthElon Musk Reveals His Cyborg Pigs
On Friday, Elon Musk demonstrated the tech behind his brain-computer interface startup, Neuralink, in a livestreamed demo that involved significantly more pigs than anyone expected. And they didn’t seem particularly interested in whatever the Tesla and SpaceX CEO had to show. When one piggy—Gertrude—was finally corralled into view after a few minutes hiding behind a … Continued
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Tech NewsCrimeA Tesla Employee Foiled an Alleged Ransomware Scheme
CEO Elon Musk called a thwarted cyberattack against Tesla “serious” on Thursday after a Russian national reportedly tried to recruit and bribe an employee to install ransomware on the company’s network at its Gigafactory in northern Nevada. The Justice Department released a complaint earlier this week about an attempted malware attack that doesn’t name the … Continued
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Tech NewsDNC Warns Campaign Staffers to Swipe Left Amid Espionage Concerns
The Democratic Party sent out an email blast to staffers on Wednesday urging them to “swipe carefully” on dating apps because undercover political opponents could be trying to slide into their DMs to gather dirt for the campaign, according to a CNN report. “We’ve received reports that opposition groups may be trying to ‘sting’ or … Continued
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Tech NewsSea Monsters, Voice-Controlled Faucets, And an Ode to Flypaper: Best Gizmodo Stories of the Week
Because I am, at my core, a basic bitch, I have a sign in my office that says “Today is a good day for a good day” (in garish sparkly gold and white letters naturally). It’s a sentiment that’s been harder to believe in these days, what with the universe apparently going through its rolodex … Continued
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Tech NewsFDA Grants Emergency Authorization for Covid-19 Plasma Treatments Because Science Schmience
The Food and Drug and Administration has issued an emergency use authorization for convalescent blood plasma as an experimental treatment for covid-19 patients. And President Donald Trump, per his usual M.O., found a way to put himself at the center of the announcement—no doubt in a bid to drum up some good press on the … Continued
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EartherLouisiana Braces for Unprecedented Back-to-Back Hurricane Strikes
Two hurricanes are forecasted to slam the Gulf Coast this week, and Lousiana could see back-to-back landfalls in an unprecedented succession. Marco strengthened from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane over the weekend, and the latest National Hurricane Center forecast has it hitting the southeastern coast of Lousiana on Monday. Tropical Storm Laura … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgetsLeaked Renders Show Off Motorola’s Next Razr
Motorola hasn’t officially announced the successor to its rebooted Razr, but thanks to a few new leaks, we purportedly have our first 360-degree look at its next attempt at a foldable phone. On Saturday, noted leaker Evan Blass tweeted a gif (shared below) showing a phone that looks very similar to last year’s Razr. In … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Tiny Robo-Beetle Is Powered by Booze
Screw batteries and charging cables—2020 has been such a rough year that even the robots are turning to drink. This beetle-inspired microbot is fueled by methanol, the kind of alcohol you’d find in antifreeze as opposed to a barrel, according to researchers with the University of Southern California’s engineering department in a Science Robotics report … Continued
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Tech NewsWordPress to Add In-App Purchases Because Apple Won’t Allow Updates Otherwise [Update: Holy Hell Did Apple Backpedal Fast]
Updated: 8/22/2020, 6:00 p.m. ET: After being put on blast for the last 24 hours, Apple issued a rare on-the-record apology on Saturday and said that WordPress will not be forced to add in-app purchases. Apple’s emailed statement reads: We believe the issue with the WordPress app has been resolved. Since the developer removed the … Continued
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Tech NewsLook at What You Started, Epic—Now Everyone’s Saying Screw the Apple Tax
Major news organizations are joining Epic Games in the push for Apple to rethink its app store terms following Fortnite’s high-profile ban this month. Digital Content Next, a trade organization representing the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and dozens of other media outlets and publishers (including yours truly, G/O Media), … Continued
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Tech NewsGoogle’s Limiting Third-Party Camera Apps on Android 11 to Keep Their Mitts Off Your Location Data
With Android 11, Google’s forcing all apps to use the device’s built-in camera app—as opposed to whatever third-party camera app you may have set as your default—when snapping photos or taking video in order to better protect users’ location data, a company rep told the Verge on Thursday. The Android engineering team first mentioned the change … Continued
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EartherFirst Male Murder Hornet in U.S. Caught in Washington State
The murder-hornet-hunting heroes at the Washington State Department of Agriculture have successfully trapped a male specimen—the first of its kind found stateside. If you’re keeping score at home, that brings the grand total of murder hornets found in Washington State to seven, all in Whatcom County. Thoughts and prayers for the folks there, as they … Continued
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Tech NewsGoogle Maps Just Got a Colorful New Update
Google Maps is getting a colorful new update in the coming weeks, adding terrain and street-level granularity to its UI that, after 15 years, was in desperate need of a makeover. To do this, Google’s using computer vision to analyze landscape features in its extensive library of satellite imagery and add color-coding based on the … Continued
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Tech NewsElections, Summer Blockbusters, And Roach-Infested Computers: Best Gizmodo Stories of the Week
The fact that we’re already halfway through August defies explanation. I feel like these past few months will go down as “the summer that never was” given the distinct lack of summer things available to most folks. Beach day? Forget about it. Cookouts? You better be social distancing around that grill. Water park? Ugh, gross, … Continued
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EartherThat Stranded Ship Leaking Tons of Oil Near Mauritius Just Split in Two
The Mauritius oil spill, predicted to be one of the worst ecological disasters in the island nation’s history, worsened this weekend after the stranded ship responsible for the mess broke in two. The Japanese oil tanker ran aground off the coast of Mauritius in late July and has since leaked some 1,000 metric tons of … Continued
Alyse Stanley
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