Author: Tech Support

USB4 promises faster speeds and less confusing names for your cables

Yesterday, USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) – a group that oversees USB standards – announced the USB4 protocol, which is capable of handling data transfer speeds up to 40Gbps – that’s four times more than USB 3.1’s transfer capacity. That’s great if you’ve compatible storage devices, or displays connected to your system. Plus, the USB4 protocol will also support

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The servers running social robot Jibo, which had raised ~$76M in total and shipped to the public in 2017 for $899, are being shut down forever (Ashley Carman/The Verge)

Ashley Carman / The Verge: The servers running social robot Jibo, which had raised ~$76M in total and shipped to the public in 2017 for $899, are being shut down forever  —  RIP, Jibo  —  The servers running Jibo, a connected home robot, are about to be shut down, and the robot has started informing

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Google to ban political ads in Canada ahead of federal election, says complying with new ad transparency rules required by Bill C-76 would be too challenging (Tom Cardoso/Globe and Mail)

Tom Cardoso / Globe and Mail: Google to ban political ads in Canada ahead of federal election, says complying with new ad transparency rules required by Bill C-76 would be too challenging  —  Google is banning political advertising on its platforms ahead of the Canadian federal election because of new ad transparency rules … Google

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Senior GOP congressional aide claims the NSA has shut down a program that collects domestic phone and text records, whose scope was revealed by Snowden in 2013 (Charlie Savage/New York Times)

Charlie Savage / New York Times: Senior GOP congressional aide claims the NSA has shut down a program that collects domestic phone and text records, whose scope was revealed by Snowden in 2013  —  WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency has quietly shut down a system that analyzes logs of Americans’ domestic calls and texts

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Comedian Miel Bredouw's fight with Barstool Sports after they posted her video without credit shows how Twitter's copyright system can hurt creators (Nick Statt/The Verge)

Nick Statt / The Verge: Comedian Miel Bredouw’s fight with Barstool Sports after they posted her video without credit shows how Twitter’s copyright system can hurt creators  —  “It’s insane to me that the platform is allowing them to do this.”  —  Earlier today, Los Angeles-based writer and comedian Miel Bredouw claims … Comedian Miel

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Google and Facebook, a major presence at CPAC last year, were nowhere to be seen this year amid claims of anti-conservative bias on their platforms (Michael M. Grynbaum/New York Times)

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times: Google and Facebook, a major presence at CPAC last year, were nowhere to be seen this year amid claims of anti-conservative bias on their platforms  —  OXON HILL, Md. — A year ago, attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual jamboree of the political right …

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Reducing Carbon Emissions With Coal

It might seem like a paradox, but coal might hold the answer to solving carbon emission problems. The key isn’t burning it, but creating it using carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  While this has always been possible in theory, high temperatures make it difficult in practice. However, a recent paper in Nature Communications shows how

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On Amazon, a book pushing QAnon conspiracy theories climbs the charts, aided by Amazon's algorithmically generated recommendations (Ben Collins/NBC News)

Ben Collins / NBC News: On Amazon, a book pushing QAnon conspiracy theories climbs the charts, aided by Amazon’s algorithmically generated recommendations  —  The book is currently No. 9 in all books about politics and No. 1 in all books about “Censorship,” one slot ahead of Ray Bradbury’s “Farhenheit 451,” On Amazon, a book pushing

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As China sees weaker demand for iPhones, Foxconn factory workers are having salaries slashed, benefits taken, and many are resigning (Cissy Zhou/South China Morning Post)

Cissy Zhou / South China Morning Post: As China sees weaker demand for iPhones, Foxconn factory workers are having salaries slashed, benefits taken, and many are resigning  —  It is a normal Saturday in Zhengzhou, the capital of central China’s Henan province.  The sky over the Foxconn factory complex is obscured with a choking smog.

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Following outcry, Coinbase says Neutrino staff members who previously worked at Hacking Team "will transition out of Coinbase" (Brian Armstrong/The Coinbase Blog)

Brian Armstrong / The Coinbase Blog: Following outcry, Coinbase says Neutrino staff members who previously worked at Hacking Team “will transition out of Coinbase”  —  We recently announced the acquisition of Neutrino, a blockchain analytics company.  I’d like to share a bit of the back story on this acquisition, and a decision we’ve made going

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