Innholdsfortegnelse for #538 i Techlife News

It should have been a time of celebration: Brittan Heller would soon graduate from college and head to one of the nation’s top law programs. But when a classmate with unrequited feelings for Heller wasn’t admitted to that same school, he turned his rage on her. He wrote a manifesto titled “A Stupid B---h to Attend Yale Law School”and posted it on a site popular with anonymous trolls. The man urged them to do their worst. Soon strangers were making derogatory, sexualized comments and posting her pictures online. They made threats. Posted her personal information. At one point, FBI agents escorted Heller to class for her protection. “People say,‘Oh, just log off. Don’t read it. Turn off the computer,’”said Heller, who turned her personal experience from 15 years ago into…

Walmart muscled through rising inflation and snarled global supply chains to put up strong fourth quarter results Thursday. The company also delivered an upbeat outlook for this year and boosted its dividend. Shares rose more than 2% before the opening bell. Walmart used its size and clout to control prices with global inflation soaring, coordinating with suppliers to ensure price gaps with rivals where needed, CEO Doug McMillon said Thursday. Net income reached $3.56 billion, or $1.28 per share in the quarter ended Jan. 31. Per share earnings adjusted for one-time costs and benefits was $1.53, or 3 cents better than Wall Street expected, according to a survey by FactSet. Revenue rose 0.4% to $151.5 billion. Last year during the same period the company lost $2.9 billion due partly to…

President Joe Biden couldn’t have been more blunt about the risks of cyberattacks spinning out of control. “If we end up in a war, a real shooting war with a major power, it’s going to be as a consequence of a cyber breach of great consequence,” he told his intelligence brain trust in July. Now tensions are soaring over Ukraine with Western officials warning about the danger of Russia launching damaging cyberattacks against Ukraine’s NATO allies. While no one is suggesting that could lead to a full-blown war between nuclear-armed rivals, the risk of escalation is serious. The danger is in the uncertainty about what crosses a digital red line. Cyberattacks, including those that cripple critical infrastructure with ransomware, have been on the rise for years and often go unpunished.…

SpaceX’s newest fleet of satellites is tumbling out of orbit after being struck by a solar storm. Up to 40 of the 49 small satellites launched last week have either reentered the atmosphere and burned up, or are on the verge of doing so, the company said in an online update. SpaceX said a geomagnetic storm last Friday made the atmosphere denser, which increased the drag on the Starlink satellites, effectively dooming them. Ground controllers tried to save the compact, flat-panel satellites by putting them into a type of hibernation and flying them in a way to minimize drag. But the atmospheric pull was too great, and the satellites failed to awaken and climb to a higher, more stable orbit, according to the company. SpaceX still has close to 2,000…

Europe needs a bolder space policy, French President Emmanuel Macron declared this week, warning that Europe’s sovereignty is at stake if it falls behind rival powers in a key field for technology, science and military competitiveness. Speaking at a meeting in Toulouse, France, Macron said recent events had shown how crucial it is to be able to monitor troop movements from orbit — a reference to satellite images showing Russia’s mass military deployment near Ukraine that raise fears of an imminent invasion. “There is no full power or autonomy without managing space,” Macron said. “Without (it) you can’t conquer new frontiers or even control your own.” Europe has a strong record when it comes to launching satellites for telecommunications, global positioning services and scientific research. But it has lagged behind…

As telecom companies rev up the newest generation of mobile service, called 5G, they’re shutting down old networks — a costly, years-in-the-works process that’s now prompting calls for a delay because many products out there still rely on the old standard, 3G. AT&T is scheduled to be the first carrier to shut down its 3G network on Feb. 22. T-Mobile will shut down its 3G network by summer and Verizon in December. The home-alarm industry has asked the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. regulator, to delay AT&T’s network sunset until December. The FCC is monitoring the 3G phase-out and working to“implement safeguards”for older phones and other devices, spokesperson Paloma Perez said. Verizon has already pushed back its shutdown — twice — from an original target date in 2019, saying customers…

Twitter’s shares jumped after it posted strong revenue growth last year and announced a $4 billion share buyback program. That’s despite losing money in 2021 and falling short of Wall Street expectations for user growth in the last three months of the year. Revenue increased 37%, to $5.08 billion, compared with 2020. But the San Francisco company reported a net loss of $221 million for the year largely tied to the settlement of a shareholder lawsuit. In the October-to-December quarter, Twitter earned $182 million, or 21 cents per share. Adjusted for one-time gains and costs, per-share earnings were 33 cents, hitting Wall Street expectations. Revenue grew in the fourth quarter to $1.41 billion, up 22% from the same period a year ago. Twitter had an average of 217 million daily…

Goonies never say die, and neither do some of their storylines. “Uncharted,” a new movie based on the PlayStation video game, cribs heavily from adventures like “The Goonies” and its holy grail, “Indiana Jones.” It’s the kind of movie that wears its influences proudly on its sleeve to perhaps enlarge itself by those associations. Nathan Drake (Tom Holland), who was raised in an orphanage, has no reptile phobia to speak of but when his travels brings him to a cathedral, he utters in a very Jonesian fashion: “Nuns. Why’s it always got to be nuns.” “Uncharted” is the latest in a proliferation of video game adaptations, and it’s not hard to see why this PlayStation game, which launched with “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” in 2007, was quickly picked up by Hollywood.…

Warren Buffett’s company placed a rare bet on a technology company late last year and it has already paid off in a big way. Berkshire Hathaway revealed in documents filed with regulators this week that it bought near 15 million shares in game publisher Activision Blizzard during the last three months of 2021. The purchase came not long before Microsoft’s announcement in January that it was acquiring Activision for $68.7 billion, sending the stock soaring. Activision’s shares are up 22.5% so far this year. Berkshire estimated that its 14.7 million shares in Activision Blizzard, the maker of Candy Crush and Call of Duty, were worth roughly $975 million at the end of 2021. At the close of trading Monday, they were worth $1.19 billion. The investment by Buffett’s firm was…

The leader of the Federal Aviation Administration, whose agency has been criticized for its oversight of Boeing and handling of questions surrounding 5G interference with aircraft, said Wednesday he will step down March 31. Stephen Dickson, a former pilot and executive with Delta Air Lines in Atlanta, had led the FAA since August 2019. He citied separation from his family during the pandemic, saying he told President Joe Biden, “It is time to go home.” In a letter to FAA staff, Dickson said he was proud of his tenure. “The agency is in a better place than it was two years ago, and we are positioned for great success,” he said. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whose department includes the FAA, said the 64-year-old Dickson “has been the FAA’s steady and…

Inflation — the rise in consumer prices — is a slow erosion of your money over time. Before 2021, the United States hadn’t seen annual core inflation much above 3% for the better part of 25 years, says Michael Ashton, managing principal of Enduring Investments, a consulting and investing firm in Morristown, New Jersey. So the 7.5% spike seen over the past year in the costs of fuel, used vehicles, groceries and just about everything else is the kind of sudden and systemic rise that can give a jolt to most peoples’ everyday spending. Ashton also says that the COVID-19 pandemic stimulus checks and tax relief, combined with the reopening of the economy, fed consumer demand but didn’t replace product inventories. The result: shortages that lead to higher prices. “Having…

Tesla CEO Elon Musk donated about 5 million shares of company stock worth roughly $5.7 billion to an unidentified charity in November, according to a regulatory filing. The shares were donated from Nov. 19 to Nov. 29, the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said. In late October, Musk, the world’s richest man, tweeted that he would sell $6 billion in Tesla stock and give the money to the United Nations World Food Program if the organization would describe how the money would solve world hunger. But the filing did not name any recipients for the donation. David Beasley, WFP executive director, said in a statement that the organization hasn’t received anything from Musk yet. “There are millions of people around the world on the brink of starvation.…

The billionaire who launched on his own SpaceX flight last year is headed back up, aiming for an even higher orbit and the chance to take part in a spacewalk. Tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman announced that he will make another private spaceflight launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, alongside two SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force fighter pilot. It’s the first of three planned flights to try out new tech — including still-in-the-works spacewalking suits — culminating in the first flight with people of SpaceX’s new Starship, which is intended for moon and Mars travel. Isaacman paid undisclosed millions for last September’s three-day spaceflight for himself and three others, the first space tourism flight for Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Isaacman told reporters that he and the company are sharing costs…

Eager to show benefits from his policies, President Joe Biden is overstating the number of electric vehicle charging stations that would be built with his infrastructure law and claiming a speedy shift to electric in the federal fleet that isn’t so. Biden says he is fulfilling campaign promises but does not acknowledge that several of his claims rely on passage of a $2 trillion climate and social safety net plan stalled in Congress. His initiatives will take more than a decade to accomplish if they are completed at all. Meanwhile, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., employed a false premise in assailing Biden’s plans for EV charging stations along highways as a “government forced” Green New Deal. States don’t have to accept the federal grants offered for the charging stations, and…

The Texas Attorney General is suing Facebook parent Meta, saying the company has unlawfully collected biometric data on Texans for commercial purposes, without their informed consent. Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit this week a state district court claiming Meta has been “storing millions of biometric identifiers” — identified as retina or iris scans, voice prints, or a record of hand and face geometry — contained in photos and videos people upload to its services, including Facebook and Instagram. “Facebook will no longer take advantage of people and their children with the intent to turn a profit at the expense of one’s safety and wellbeing,” Paxton said in a statement. “This is yet another example of Big Tech’s deceitful business practices and it must stop. I will continue to…

Red Bull’s Formula One team has signed what it described Wednesday as the most lucrative annual cryptocurrency sponsorship in sports. The deal with Bybit is worth more than $100 million across three years for the team that is home to reigning world champion Max Verstappen. Red Bull said Bybit will work with the team on “crypto-literacy”by educating on the digital economy. The unregulated cryptocurrency exchange has been running for almost four years. The price of crypto is prone to high volatility, sparking concerns about the risks of investing.…

The hit series “Yellowstone” is becoming a mothership with yet another prequel. The Paramount+ streaming service said it has ordered the series “1932,” about the roots of the Dutton ranching family first introduced in the contemporary drama “Yellowstone.” The cast and release date for “1932” were not announced. The new chapter will focus on the Duttons during Prohibition and the Great Depression, Paramount+ said. The first prequel, “1883” is in its first season and will be back for a second, the service said. Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are among the stars. Kevin Costner leads the cast of “Yellowstone,” which launched creator-producer Taylor Sheridan’s western expansion saga on cable’s Paramount Network. “While most shows franchise near the end of their run, we seized the opportunity to franchise in…

Visa Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. announced an agreement Thursday that allows customers to use Visa cards on Amazon sites worldwide without additional fees. The companies also agreed to collaborate on product and technology initiatives for “innovative payment experiences,”Visa said in an email. Credit card fees have been a growing source of tension between Amazon and Visa. Last year, Amazon started charging customers in Australia and Singapore who use Visa credit cards a 0.5% surcharge. Under the agreement, Amazon’s amazon.co.uk site in Britain will no longer turn off Visa credit cards. Customers in Australia and Singapore will no longer pay the surcharge for using Visa. Last month, Amazon’s British website backed away from plans to stop accepting Visa credit cards issued in the United Kingdom, saying the two sides were talking.…

Europe is contemplating sanctions against Russia if it invades Ukraine — and the work is far from simple. Sanctions would seek to maximize the pain for the Kremlin, its key banks and energy companies but also avoid jeopardizing the continent’s Russian-dependent energy supplies or inflicting too much damage on European companies with strong ties to Russia, including German industrial manufacturer Siemens AG, Italian tiremaker Pirelli and automakers like Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz. Russia has ties to world energy and financial markets and is home to major foreign partnerships and investments, so any measures will have repercussions outside the country. The question is how much. The European Union’s executive commission isn’t revealing the sanctions it’s discussing in order to leave the Kremlin guessing. Officials say measures would be more sweeping and severe…

There’s no denying that SpaceX and its Starship program is a game-changer for the future of space exploration, designed to carry hundreds of people to the Red Planet. This month, Elon Musk took to the stage to announce the latest updates to the project, signaling that Starship is full steam ahead, bringing us even closer to a whole new world far beyond Planet Earth. THE STARSHIP PROGRAM Though the Starship program dates back as far as 2005, it’s only in recent years that the world has begun taking the project seriously. Elon Musk, famed for his success co-founding PayPal and, of course, Tesla, has been developing a vehicle that could change the way we think about interplanetary transportation forever. Creatively named Starship, the project will feature a reusable transportation system…

NASA’s new space telescope has captured its first starlight and even taken a selfie of its giant, gold mirror. All 18 segments of the primary mirror on the James Webb Space Telescope seem to be working properly 1 1/2 months into the mission, officials said. The telescope’s first target was a bright star 258 light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. “That was just a real wow moment,” said Marshall Perrin of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. Over the next few months, the hexagonal mirror segments — each the size of a coffee table — will be aligned and focused as one, allowing science observations to begin by the end of June. The $10 billion infrared observatory — considered the successor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope —…

Intel said it is buying Israeli company Tower Semiconductor for $5.4 billion in a deal that could give the California chipmaking giant an edge in the business of making custom-designed chips. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said that acquiring Tower will help expand Intel’s newly formed “foundry” business that makes microprocessors for other firms. Intel will “benefit from that decades of experience that Tower brings in how to run a global foundry,” Gelsinger said on an investor call about the deal. Tower, based in Migdal Haemek, Israel, specializes in making analog chips used in cars, mobile devices and in industrial, medical and military sectors. The companies said it could take a year for the deal to close. It’s been approved by each company’s board of directors but will face scrutiny from…

Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. has settled a decade-old class action lawsuit over the company’s use of “cookies” in 2010 and 2011 that tracked people online even after they logged off the Facebook platform. As part of the proposed settlement, which must still be approved by a judge, Meta has agreed to delete all the data it “wrongfully collected” during that period. The company, which posted profits of $39.37 billion in 2021, will also pay $90 million to users who filed a claim, after lawyer fees are deducted. “Reaching a settlement in this case, which is more than a decade old, is in the best interest of our community and our shareholders and we’re glad to move past this issue,” said Meta spokesperson Drew Pusateri in a statement this week.…

The San Francisco 49ers have been hit by a ransomware attack, with cyber criminals claiming they stole some of the football team’s financial data. The ransomware gang BlackByte recently posted some of the purportedly stolen team documents on a dark web site in a file marked “2020 Invoices.”The gang did not make any of its ransom demands public or specify how much data it had stolen or encrypted. The team, which is among the most valuable and storied franchises in the NFL and lost a close playoff game two week ago, said in a statement last Sunday that it recently became aware of a “network security incident”that had disrupted some of its corporate IT network systems. The 49ers said they’d notified law enforcement and hired cybersecurity firms to assist. “To…

Jabari Banks knew he was close to getting the starring role of Will in “ Bel-Air,” the dramatic take of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” but his confidence started to wane when he was asked to do one more Zoom audition with show director Morgan Cooper. “I’m like, ‘I don’t know what he wants to see, but I’m gonna give him everything I got,’ recalled the 23-year-old in a recent interview. “I was like, ‘I’m gonna put everything into this audition.’” Banks found a quiet place — a friend’s closet — and logged in, only to see a very familiar face staring back at him, Will Smith. “I didn’t think it was real,” Banks said. “He’s like, ’I want to congratulate you. You got the part of Will in ‘Bel-Air.’”…