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Cognixion, a startup designing an intuitive brain-monitoring headset and interface for people with physical disabilities, has raised a $12M A round to pursue its accessibility ambitions. Armed with this funding, it should be able to complete the long list of requirements necessary for any medical or assistive device to be made widely available.

The company, which I covered in detail in May, makes a headset that uses electroencephalography to detect certain patterns of brain activity, which are then used to guide a cursor and navigate a full-featured interface. It uses an iPhone as its own “brain” and for a display and connects to accessories like speakers and accessibility devices so that the user can do everything they need to in a single UI.

The advance’s all built on are a new type of (non-invasive) electrode and a machine learning system that quickly interprets the signals produced by the ones embedded in the headset. While EEGs are useful, they are generally slow and noisy, but Cognixion’s approach makes them quick and relatively precise — enough that a person can reliably navigate a modern UI using their brain.

It’s meant for people with physical disabilities serious enough that a joystick, gaze-tracking device, or other common accessibility options aren’t possible. Options for people in that condition are few and far between and those that are available are slow and tedious to use.

Since coming out of stealth mode Cognixion has been hard at work on the various tasks associated with putting an assistive device on the market. While the company has done some pilot tests with early adopters, it needs more to justify the kind of clearance it needs to be covered by insurance, Medicaid, and so on, not to mention getting to the level where caregivers are comfortable recommending the device.

“The two big themes recently have been in the areas of clinical and regulatory work as well as optimization and efficiency,” said CEO and co-founder Andreas Forsland. “We have a group of almost 150 users, clinicians, and caregivers involved as an advisory council in all of our development processes so we’re constantly getting very rich feedback from that group. We’ve already iterated many times on the hardware but are quickly approaching a final design; moving beyond that, a lot of the rapid improvements we’re seeing right now focus on the user interface and language system design.”

Two new features, in particular, are underway. First, a predictive speech algorithm that will help users piece together full sentences quickly and adapt to their particular needs. The second is direct Alexa integration. Cognixion has been working with Amazon to empower and integrate into the headset as a truly smart device hub not merely a tunnel for common voice commands or queries.

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“We’re incredibly grateful to Amazon’s Alexa team for their support through this process, and to Amazon generally for granting the exceptions needed for us to get this done,” Forsland said. “The context on it is important; right now there aren’t any augmentative communication tools or even anything in assistive technology generally that interface directly with home automation tools. So it’s a huge first for the accessibility industry, but also a first in terms of universal design in general.”

The $12 million round was led by Prime Movers Lab, with participation by Northwell Health, Amazon Alexa Fund, and Volta Circle.

“You would think that Cognixion ONE is something out of science fiction if it didn’t already exist,” said Primer Movers Lab GP Amy Kruse in the company’s press release. “We believe that it will be a fundamentally life-changing and integral blend of an AI software platform with hardware to assist people of all ages who live with speech and motor disabilities, including cerebral palsy, brainstem stroke, ALS, and many other conditions.”

While it’ll still be a bit before the ONE headset is available for purchase, Forsland said they’ve lined up a reseller and distributor already that works with practically every research university out there. Things are looking good for this innovative approach to accessibility and hopefully, soon it will be on the heads of anyone who needs it.

The latest game in the Halo series has been released three weeks early to coincide with the franchise's 20th anniversary.

Halo: Infinite was originally supposed to be released last year but was delayed until December 2021.

But on Monday, at an Xbox 20th anniversary event, Microsoft revealed the multiplayer part of the game was being released the same day.

The single-player campaign is still being withheld until 8 December.

Halo was, at its peak in the mid-2000s, known as much for its online multiplayer as for the story-led campaign.

With this latest game, Microsoft has released the multiplayer part separately as a free-to-play title - a popular business strategy for many online games but a significant shift for the Halo series.

The release was widely celebrated by fans keen to play the multiplayer, which was reviewed well in early previews after a tumultuous development cycle for the game as a whole.

Piers Harding-Rolls, from Ampere Analysis, said the game was already setting records for player numbers on a Microsoft game on PC, though there were complaints about the levelling system being "slow-paced and potentially frustrating".

But because it was free to play, it could be used "as a promotional tool for the launch of the campaign version of the game... and for sign-ups to Microsoft's subscription service, Game Pass, which will include the premium version of the game at launch".

"A substantial audience alongside the full suite of in-game monetisation that is being deployed suggests it also has a strong chance of being the most commercially successful Halo multiplayer ever," Mr. Harding-Rolls added.

The early launch means Halo is also directly competing against major November shooter releases Battlefield 2042 and Call of Duty: Vanguard.

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Analysis: A lot riding on Halo By Steffan Powell, BBC Gaming reporter

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Waking up on a random Tuesday morning to the news Beyoncé or Taylor Swift has dropped a new album out of the blue is a bit of a surprise - but not unheard of.

Shadow-dropping a big videogame release, however, is just not done.

And it is especially surprising when it comes to an important franchise such as Halo.

The series has been used to encourage players to choose an Xbox over rivals such as the PlayStation - it is Microsoft's most iconic exclusive franchise and carries nostalgia for many gamers.

But multiplayer gaming has changed a lot since the release of the previous Halo.

Fortnite and Warzone dominate the free-to-play online market with their battle-royal "last man standing" format.

And Microsoft will be hoping Halo's unique brand of smooth, frenetic team deathmatch action, offered for free, will draw players away from titles such as those.

In short, there is a lot riding on this release - and all of a sudden, it is out in the wild.

If the gamble pays off and gamers love what is on offer, then the franchise could return to its heyday, when Halo 3 dominated the online multiplayer scene.

It could reinvigorate the franchise ahead of the game's full launch in December.

But if it fails, it could leave Microsoft looking for a new standard-bearer for this generation of its console.

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Halo: Infinite has had a troubled development cycle since it was announced in 2018.

The first trailer for the title was unveiled in mid-2020 to a significant fan backlash about its visual style.

Some thought the graphics "cartoonish" and unpolished.

By August, developer 343 Industries had announced it was delaying the title into 2021 for the wellbeing of staff and "overall success of the game".

And that meant the game missed being a launch title for the newest Xbox console.

Halo games have often been used as a "system seller" for the Xbox, ever since the first title launched with the original console on 15 November 2001.

During the anniversary video stream, Microsoft also showed off the first teaser trailer for a live-action Halo TV series from Paramount and a six-part documentary about the creation of the original Xbox.

The company also announced it was adding more than 70 original Xbox and Xbox 360 games to its compatibility scheme, making them playable on the modern versions of the console.

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Google has announced that it will invest A$1bn ($740m, £550m) in Australia over the next five years. It is the US technology giant's largest investment in the country to date.

Google says the money will be used to build a research hub, increase its cloud computing capacity, and fund partnerships with local organisations.

The move - named the Digital Future Initiative - is expected to directly create 6,000 jobs and support 28,000 overall.

"Australia can help lead the world's next wave of innovation, harnessing technology to improve lives, create jobs, and make progress," Google boss Sundar Pichai said at the initiative's launch in Sydney.

Also attending the event, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison welcomed the plan: "The decision by Google has major benefits for Australian businesses as we engage with the economic recovery before us."

The investment will see the company partnering with local organisations, including Australia's science agency the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

Joshua Kennedy-White of cyber investment company DivisionX Global called Google's announcement a "huge win" for Australian technology:

"It takes money to move an idea into an innovation and the first money is the hardest to come by.

"If Google cut $250k cheques to promising start-ups, they could fund 4,000 new tech companies in Australia," he said.

Silicon Valley of the Southern Hemisphere

The move marks another major boost for Sydney's ambitions to become the 'Silicon Valley of the Southern Hemisphere'.

Construction of Tech Central, a hub multi-billion dollar hub in central Sydney, is due to start next year and is expected to continue until 2026.

However, big technology companies have come under fire in Australia in recent months for not paying local news publishers for content carried on their platforms. They have also been accused of helping the spread of disinformation.

During hearings in Australia's parliament in January, Google Australia's Managing Director Mel Silva threatened to block its search engine in the country to avoid paying for content posted to its websites.

The following month Australia became the first country in the world to pass legislation requiring big technology firms, including Google and Facebook, to pay for news content on their platforms.

There have also been calls to reduce the dominance of Google's search engine in the country.

Last month, the head of Australia's competition regulator called for Google to install a "choice screen" on smartphones, giving users the option of choosing another search engine.

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US President Joe Biden has signed legislation that stops companies judged to be a security threat from receiving new telecoms equipment licences.

The Secure Equipment Act says the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should no longer review applications from companies ruled a threat.

It means equipment from Huawei, ZTE and three other Chinese companies cannot be used in US telecoms networks.

Democrat and Republican senators all approved the bill.

It was voted in unanimously by the Senate on 28 October, after passing through the House of Representatives with 420 votes in favour and only four against it.

In March, the FCC said it had identified five Chinese companies that posed a threat to national security under a 2019 law designed to protect US communications networks.

It named Huawei and ZTE, as well as Hytera Communications Corp, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co, and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co.

However, the FCC was not required to reject the companies' applications to be used in US networks.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said the regulator had approved more than 3,000 applications from Huawei since 2018.

He said the Secure Equipment Act would "help to ensure that insecure gear from companies like Huawei and ZTE can no longer be inserted into America's communications networks".

China has been critical of the crackdown.

"The United States, without any evidence, still abuses national security and state power to suppress Chinese companies," Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson at China's foreign ministry, said in June.

The FCC has also proposed new rules that would let it revoke licences that have already been granted.

Last month, the FCC voted to withdraw permission for China Telecom's US subsidiary to operate in the United States, citing national security concerns.

President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to hold a virtual meeting next week.
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Apple has promised to fix a problem with its iPhone 13 that means that screen repairs performed by unofficial parties break its Face ID feature.

The model contains a chip that "pairs" a screen with a specific phone and requires special software tools to "match" a new one.

Repair firms have found that without those tools, the facial-identification security function no longer works.

Apple, whose repairers use the tools, says it will issue a software update.

The feature has been widely criticised by right-to-repair advocates, who suggest it was included to limit who could repair iPhones.

The issue was first reported by iFixit, a company specialising in tools, parts and tech repair guides.

It labelled the new link between screen replacements and Face ID as a "dark day for fixers, both DIY and professional".

The repair firm discovered that the new chip ensures that unless the replacement screen is "matched" to the phone's unique serial number, Face ID does not work.

The only known existing work-around for independent or do-it-yourself repairers involves delicate, laborious work to transplant the chip from the old screen to the replacement.

The procedure needs specialist equipment and training, which only a fraction of repair shops were capable of, according to iFixit.

Apple told news outlets, including The Verge and The Register, a solution would be made available in a future update but gave no date.

It is not clear whether the issue was a bug or - as some right-to-repair advocates argued - part of a wider move by Apple to restrict third-party repairs.

Apple has often been labelled one of the main opponents of right-to-repair legislation, reportedly arguing that allowing consumers to repair their own devices could lead to injury.

The company's co-founder, Steve Wozniak, who made the first Apple machines in a garage with Steve Jobs in the 1970s, has expressed support for the right-to-repair movement, saying Apple would not exist without the kind of tinkering repair enthusiasts are campaigning for.

Reacting to Apple's pledge, iFixit's Kevin Purdy wrote: "It's a good day, if media attention and public pushback truly forced Apple's hand."

But he also warned that it was "an endless fight".

"Apple - and the many companies it inspires - will advance again with more parts lockdowns, more feature reductions, more reasons why only their profitable repair centres can do this work," he said.
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Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's Singles Day is known for being the world's biggest online shopping extravaganza.

But this year it has been a more toned-down affair as Beijing cracks down on businesses and economic growth slows.

Sales for the 11-day event rose at their slowest rate since it was launched in 2009, up 8.5% last year.

However, customer spending still hit a fresh record high of 540.3bn yuan ($84.5bn; £63.2bn).

This year marks the first time that sales for Alibaba's Singles Day, which the company refers to as the "11.11 Global Shopping Festival ", failed to achieve double-digit year-on-year growth.

"It's probably not that great if you consider the market is expected to grow at almost 12%," Rui Ma from the Tech Buzz China website told the BBC.

"They've already tapped out this holiday to its extreme. This is already a big number so it's hard to show growth," she added.

It comes against the backdrop of the Chinese government's rapid moves in recent months to impose tough new rules on the country's internet giants.

After years of limited oversight by Beijing, officials have been enforcing regulations to ensure that the technology industry competes fairly and contributes more to society.

Alibaba found itself in the spotlight during the crackdown as it paid a record $2.8bn fine after a probe determined it had abused its market position for years. The company also said it would change the way it conducted its business.

Shen Lu from technology website Protocol told the BBC that this year's Singles Day was about improving the company's image: "Alibaba is trying to present themselves to be a tech company with social responsibility."

"They're showing they're complying with regulations and fitting into the general political atmosphere," she said.

This approach brought a more socially conscious emphasis to the event than previous years with eco-friendly products and campaigns to raise money for good causes.

For example, viewers of a three-hour Livestream were encouraged to click "like" and help raise money for an elephant reserve in China's rural southwest.

Ms. Shen also suggested that there are signs that shoppers are looking for new ways to buy online: "It's now been 12 years since Alibaba invented the Singles Day shopping event."

"It was such a hype years ago but it's no longer exciting for shoppers in China," she said.

One of those new approaches is live-streaming shopping, which consultancy McKinsey has predicted is the future of online sales in China.

Last month, two of China's most famous celebrity online sellers reportedly raked in $3bn in just 12 hours.

Slowing growth

Consumers may also be wary of making unnecessary purchases as China's economic recovery shows signs of losing steam.

According to official figures, the world's second-largest economy grew by 4.9% in the July to September quarter from a year earlier.

That was the slowest pace of expansion in a year and worse than analysts had predicted.

It comes as power shortages, new outbreaks of Covid-19 and concerns about the country's property market weigh on the economy.
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Vodafone has signed new deals with CityFibre and Openreach which it claims will make it the largest provider of ultra-fast broadband in the UK.

The telecoms giant does not own its own fixed-line network and instead leases from other companies.

Eight million UK residents will have access to its service by Spring 2022.

Analysts say the move should be good for consumers, as other providers push to have a similar reach.

Vodafone first partnered with CityFibre in 2017, in a deal thought to be worth around £500 million.

The "alt-network" is the largest company outside of the main telecom giants to lay fiber in the UK in recent years, with around 50 internet providers currently making use of its infrastructure.

The agreement with Vodafone will support CityFibre's pledge to reach 285 cities, towns, and villages by 2025, in the UK.

"A couple of years back we were new to broadband but by spring we will have the widest fiber-to-the-premises footprint in the UK," Ahmed Essam, chief executive of Vodafone UK, told the Financial Times.

Mr. Essam said that by not owning its own fixed-line network the company has been free to expand its reach at a faster rate than otherwise would have been possible.

"BT will always sell on BT. Virgin Media will always sell on Virgin Media," he said of his main rivals.

Mark Jackson, the editor at ISPreview, told the BBC that the move is likely to have a positive impact on consumers.

"Crucially, this change isn't unique to Vodafone, with CityFibre looking to provide a similar level of nationwide coverage to other ISPs.

"We fully expect the likes of TalkTalk, for example, to follow suit in the near future. For consumers, this simply means a greater degree of choice, which is often faster and more affordable than what they had access to before. That's a good thing," he added.
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Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has sold around $5bn (£3.7bn) of shares in the electric carmaker. It comes days after he asked his 63 million Twitter followers whether he should sell 10% of his stake in Tesla.

The company's shares fell by around 16% in the two days after the poll came out in favor of him selling shares, before regaining some ground on Wednesday.

Tesla is the world's most valuable carmaker, with a stock market valuation of more than $1tn.

Mr. Musk's trust sold almost 3.6 million shares in Tesla, worth around $4bn.

He also sold another 934,000 shares for about $1.1bn after exercising options to acquire nearly 2.2 million shares, according to filings with the US stock market regulator.

The documents showed that the sale of about a fifth of the shares was made based on a pre-arranged trading plan set up in September, long before Mr. Musk's social media posts at the weekend about selling some of his shares.

However, the regulatory filings also showed that the sale of the remainder of the shares had not been scheduled.

Mr. Musk has highlighted that he is not paid in cash by Tesla and only has stock.

Part of the latest transaction saw him exercising stock options that he was awarded as part of his pay package in 2012, which is due to expire in August next year.

Mr. Musk has one option to buy 22.86 million Tesla shares at $6.24 each, but if he doesn't exercise the stock option then the shares would become worthless after the expiry date.

Such transactions trigger income taxes, which are typically settled using money raised from immediately selling some of the newly acquired shares.

His move also comes as US Democrats have proposed a so-called "billionaires tax", which could the richest taxed on "unrealized gains" even if they do not sell any of their stock.

"Elon Musk doesn't take a salary, he's paid in big chunks of stock. At some point in time, you have to take some of that concentration down," Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York, told Reuters.

"This is not novel. It just gets more attention because it's such a high market-cap type, attention-grabbing kind of company."

Before selling some of his shares, Mr. Musk owned a 23% stake in Tesla.

The shares he sold equate to about 3% of Musk's total holdings in the carmaker, though it has not been confirmed if the sale was related to his weekend Twitter poll, or if he intends to stagger further sales.

On Saturday, Mr. Musk posted a poll asking his followers to vote on whether he should sell part of his stake in Tesla to meet his tax obligations.

"Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock," he tweeted.

"I will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes."

View original tweet on Twitter

The poll attracted more than 3.5 million votes, with nearly 58% voting in favor of the share sale, but Mr. Musk has been silent regarding any share sales since the poll.

It was Mr. Musk's first sale of shares since 2016 when he last exercised stock options. At the time he also sold some of the shares to cover an income tax bill of close to $600m.

"The reason that we're seeing stock rebound is that there does seem to be a method in his madness," AJ Bell analyst Danni Hewson said.

"It's about making sure that the market understands this isn't something done on a whim, or because his Twitter followers told him he should. He's had his decision already made, rubber-stamped."

Mr. Musk is the world's richest person, with a fortune estimated to be more than $280bn.
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Part of the New Zealand-based visual effects studio co-founded by Oscar-winning director Sir Peter Jackson has been sold for $1.6bn (£1.2bn). A division of Weta Digital, which has worked on films including Lord of the Rings and Avatar, is being bought by video games software company Unity. Unity's technology is behind games such as Pokémon Go and Call of Duty: Mobile.

The firms say the deal means that Weta's special effects tools will be "democratized". "Together, Unity and Weta Digital can create a pathway for any artist, from any industry, to be able to leverage these incredibly creative and powerful tools," Sir Peter said in a statement.

Weta, which was co-founded by Sir Peter in 1993, is known for creating animated characters such as Avatar's Neyriti, Gollum in the Lord of the Rings film series, and Caesar from Planet of the Apes. "For the southern hemisphere, Weta is our version of Hollywood," Sydney-based film critic James Fletcher told the BBC. "Peter Jackson is a visionary filmmaker. He didn't have the tools he needed to achieve the results he wanted so he put a team together," he added.

Under the deal, the company will be split up, with its technology assets being sold to Unity as Weta Digital. Its visual effects business will remain as a separate company called WetaFX, which is expected to become one of Unity's largest customers. Weta told the BBC that Sir Peter, along with the company's digital artists, will be "staying in New Zealand and continuing to make movies here."

In a statement, Unity said it will "put Weta's incredibly exclusive and sophisticated visual effects tools into the hands of millions of creators and artists around the world" enabling them to shape the future of the metaverse. The term metaverse has come into wider mainstream use in recent weeks after Facebook said last month that it would change its name to Meta to better reflect its new focus on connecting users through augmented and virtual reality.

"This deal is actually quite exciting," said Mr. Fletcher.

"They'll be able to make this technology available to filmmakers. It's really going to be a disruptive deal and be beneficial to creatives all around the world."

After the announcement of the cash-and-stock deal Unity's shares fell by more than 6% in extended trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
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The Bank of England and the Treasury are to launch a formal consultation on a UK central bank digital currency. This evaluation of the design and possible benefits of a new kind of digital money is a further step towards its possible creation.

The currency, for use by households and businesses, would sit alongside cash and bank deposits, rather than replacing them. No decision has been taken on whether to have such a currency in the UK. But the consultation in 2022 will form part of a "research and exploration" phase and will help the Bank and government develop the plans over the following few years.

Central banks around the world are developing or exploring digital currencies after the rise of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. China, for example, is a front-runner in this global race and is in the process of testing a digital yuan in major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. Its next steps are to improve the eCNY currency's privacy protections and to improve how it interacts with other payments tools, People's Bank of China governor Yi Gang said on Tuesday.

UK plans

The UK's central bank digital currency (CBDC) is not so far advanced as the Chinese effort, with the earliest date for the launch of a UK CBDC in the second half of the decade. The consultation paper will set out an assessment from the Treasury and the Bank of the case for a CBDC before a decision on whether to proceed. "A technical specification would follow the consultation explaining the proposed conceptual architecture for any CBDC. "This could involve in-depth testing of the optimal design for, and feasibility of, a UK CBDC," the Bank said in a statement.

Financial services minister John Glen said a retail CBDC would be used by people and businesses for everyday payments needs and help Britain stay at the forefront of innovation and technology in the financial sector. The European Central Bank in July took a first step towards launching a digital version of the euro, kicking off a 24-month investigation phase to be followed by three years of implementation. Work on a digital euro accelerated after Facebook unveiled plans to create its own currency in 2019, although Facebook later thought again about its Libra currency after strong opposition from regulators, and renamed it "Diem".

While China has been at the forefront of CBDC moves, the US Federal Reserve has been more skeptical. Some central banks have warned that the widespread use of CBDCs could deprive banks of a cheap and stable source of funding from consumer deposits. Last month, Nigeria was the first African country to launch a CBDC pilot and in September, El Salvador became the first country to use the virtual Bitcoin currency as a legal tender, alongside the US dollar. It led to widespread protests as demonstrators feared it would bring instability and inflation to the country.
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InvestorRicky:
Robinhood again

E shock you?

US share-trading app Robinhood has been hit by a security breach that has exposed the names or email addresses of more than seven million people.

The company says the breach affected "a limited amount of personal information for a portion of our customers".

And it does not believe the most sensitive information it gathers - US social security numbers and financial information - was revealed.

Robinhood said it had rejected a demand for payment and reported the attack.

Such ransom demands are not uncommon in cyber-attacks and usually amount to a promise not to sell on the compromised data or leak it for free online. The company did not say what terms were involved in its case.

Instead of complying with what it called "extortion", Robinhood said it had notified law enforcement authorities and hired an external cyber-security firm to help deal with the incident.

"We owe it to our customers to be transparent and act with integrity," the company's security officer, Caleb Sima, said in a published statement.

"Following a diligent review, putting the entire Robinhood community on notice of this incident now is the right thing to do," it said.

The breach happened on 3 November through what's known as "social engineering" - a specifically targeted and convincing scam designed to trick an employee into divulging login details or other sensitive information.

It affected five million people whose email addresses were compromised and the full names of a further two million.

Robinhood also said a much smaller group of about 310 people had much more information exposed - including names, dates of birth, and US zip codes.

A further 10 or so had "more extensive account details revealed", it said.

Robinhood is available only to US users and requires them to be over 18, provide a valid social security number, and a valid US address. It is that sensitive information which the company says was not exposed.

The app, which allows for low-volume share trading by ordinary people looking to invest, exploded in popularity earlier this year and was widely used by speculative investors behind the GameStop trading frenzy.

For 12 years Didier Ndabahariye has been ferrying passengers around the streets of Kigali - one of the thousands of motorbike taxi drivers, known locally as a moto.

Recently, he switched his usual ride for getting around Rwanda's capital for one of the first electric motorbikes on the African continent.

"In the first days, things were not good because I was not used to riding e-motos, and the bike was sometimes cut-off.

"However I went on working, and soon I knew many things about how the bike works and how to ride it. Then I started saving more money," Didier explains.

He is one of 60 drivers riding an electric motorbike from the Rwandan firm Ampersand.

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There are around 25,000 motorbike taxis operating in the Rwandan capital

"Now I like the bikes - an e-moto can last for a long time without any problems unlike with an engine motor - and it goes well, it is very smooth to ride."

The start-up Ampersand is pioneering the switch and hopes that over the next five years almost all of Rwanda's motorbikes will be electric.

It is an ambitious dream - there are around 25,000 motorbike taxis operating in Kigali, some driving up to 10 hours a day, often covering hundreds of kilometres daily.

"Motorbikes make up more than half of all vehicles in this part of the world," says Ampersand chief executive Josh Whale.

"Their simple engines lack the sort of costly emissions reduction tech that you see in modern cars, or in motorbikes in the global north. Meanwhile, they are being run for over 100km per day, so that's a lot of pollution, a lot of carbon [dioxide].

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Motorbike taxis often cover hundreds of kilometres a day
"In Rwanda, drivers spend more in a year on petrol than the cost of a new motorbike. We've shown that we can offer an alternative in the same style as their current motorbike [that] costs less to buy, less to power and less to maintain."

Ampersand says that savings on fuel and maintenance can double a driver's income.

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Ampersand says its e-bikes cost less to buy and maintain than existing petrol-powered motorbikes

With an estimated five million motorbikes on the roads of East Africa, there could be big savings in CO2 emissions if Ampersand and its rivals take a significant share of the market.

Ampersand is more than just a technology platform. It assembles the motorbikes, the batteries and has set up charging stations.

Each motorbike has around 150 parts, which are assembled in Kigali. Particularly importantly, the battery packs are specially designed and prototyped by Ampersand engineers in Rwanda. They are then manufactured abroad and shipped back to Rwanda for final assembly by local technicians.

Ampersand currently has 73 employees at its Rwandan motorcycle factory and is moving to a new facility this month as production grows.

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Ampersand assembles and maintains the fleet of electric motorbikes

"For the time being, we also happen to be a motorbike company, with spare parts and maintenance too. However, we'd be glad to work with the big existing petrol motorbike manufacturers on the vehicle side of things.

"We are still small and we want to move fast - as the climate crisis demands - and do some hard things quickly. So we're very happy to team up with big existing players where we can," Mr Whale says.

The company has set up battery swap stations - where drivers exchange their depleted batteries for recharged ones - with five already in operation around Kigali.

Each swap station costs around $5,000 (£3,700) - and the firm says it can build about 20 swap stations for the price of one conventional petrol station.

Rwanda's government has a large role to play in moving to e-transportation, balancing the pros and cons of e-mobility. There will be a loss of fuel tax revenue - but the benefits include a shift to locally produced power sources, lower fuel importation costs and job creation if assembly takes place locally.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/CEFC/production/_120888925_amper.copyofbirdseyeviewnyamirambo.jpg

The Rwandan government is offering incentives to take up electric motorbikes

The country has pioneered a range of incentives to encourage e-mobility.

This includes capped electricity tariffs for charging stations and rent-free land for them, preferential parking and travel lanes for electric vehicles around Kigali, and restrictions on the ages and emissions of polluting vehicles.

Established transport companies are also showing a willingness to contribute to e-mobility efforts.

In Rwanda, Volkswagen has been conducting an e-mobility pilot project since 2019 in partnership with Siemens, which has seen it launch 20 electric Golfs and two charging stations in Kigali.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/6CDB/production/_121476872_amper.eo_small-1.jpg

Volkswagen thinks that Rwanda can leapfrog straight to electric cars

Volkswagen says the country has the potential to leapfrog internal combustion engines to electric cars.

"Together with our development partner Siemens and with support from the government of Rwanda, Volkswagen aims to make the e-Golf pilot project a blueprint for electric mobility in Africa," says Andile Dlamini, of Volkswagen Group South Africa.

For Ampersand, Rwanda has only been the first step in Africa, with the company currently launching in neighbouring Kenya and other countries shortly afterwards.

While there are challenges to rolling out electric vehicles across Africa - such as a shortage of specialised skills, the reticence of venture capital investors and disrupted supply chains - Mr Whale argues that the continent can be a leader in a global shift to e-mobility.

The amount of working capital required is "easily realistic", he says, and could be put up by world governments to speed up rollout.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/11D1C/production/_120888927_amper.copyofcuandtv1atrwandexdrivingpast.jpg

Ampersand chief executive Josh Whale: "The electric age is here - for everyone"

"We hope we can show that the electric age is here - for everyone - and clean mobility isn't something that's just going to trickle down to the global south in a second-hand manner, decades from now. Rather than it's cost-effective, fundable, investable - now."

A global police operation has dealt a devastating blow to one of the most prolific cyber-crime gangs in history. The coordinated action against the REvil gang was announced on Monday by Romanian police, the US Department of Justice (DOJ), and Europol.

The raids, which took place both on and offline, led to the arrests of two alleged hackers in Romania and one from Ukraine. REvil has been blamed for major hacks on global businesses in recent years.

The US also announced that it had successfully retrieved more than $6m (£4m) in cryptocurrency from the gang in a so-called "clawback" hacking operation. For the last three years REvil - which used to call itself GandCrab and is also known as Sodinikobi - has been attacking businesses and institutions around the world.

Europol's operation, named GoldDust, was set up specifically to tackle the group. Since February the operation has led to 7 arrests of the hacker gang in total in Romania, Ukraine, South Korea, and Kuwait.

Officers allege that the two Romanians arrested on November 4th infected 5,000 victims and pocketed half a million euros in ransom payments. In recent weeks the leaders of REvil announced that pressure from authorities had forced them to shut down operations.

High-profile victims
Back in May, REvil's ransomware targeted the world's largest meat processor, JBS SA, disrupting meat production for several days. The company ultimately paid $11m to the hackers. The group's malware also caused months of disruption to foreign exchange company Travelex, which had all computer systems offline for weeks.

Most recently, the gang successfully hacked Florida-based software firm Kaseya which subsequently infected up to 1,500 businesses around the world. The US Treasury Department said more than $200m in ransom payments were paid in Bitcoin and Monero in the attack.

The DOJ says Yaroslav Vasinskyi, 22, a Ukrainian man arrested in Poland last month, was responsible and has indicted him. The US is seeking to extradite him for trial in America.

Another alleged REvil operative, Russian Yevgeniy Polyanin, 28, has also been charged by the US with conspiracy to commit fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, among other charges.

Russia is unlikely to extradite its own citizen to the US, so Mr. Polyanin is expected to join a growing list of wanted alleged Russian hackers.

The Treasury Department added that the two men face sanctions for their alleged role in ransomware incidents in the United States.
Court documents also accused a virtual cryptocurrency exchange called Chatex of "facilitating financial transactions for ransomware actors".

FBI Director Christopher Wray told reporters on Monday: "The long arm of the law reaches a lot further than they think. 'The cyber threat is daunting, but when we combine the right people, the right tools, and the right authority, our adversaries are no match for what we can accomplish together."

Good news is rare in cyber-security, especially in the last 18 months when the surge in ransomware attacks has targeted everything from public institutions to schools and hospitals. But this is unequivocally great news.

REvil was probably the most prolific and dangerous cyber-crime gang ever and they've operated with complete confidence and arrogance. Not only were their attacks indiscriminate, but they also had a website they sarcastically called their "Happy Blog" where they would name and shame victims who didn't pay their ransoms. They even had a live chat portal and were happy to brag about their work to reporters like me.

This multinational police operation is extremely impressive in its coordination and aggression and shows just what can be done to attack these cyber-criminals on all fronts. This is probably the end of REvil, and along with other recent success stories, it feels like a turning point in the fight against ransomware.

But with many of the criminal gangs thought to be operating in Russia immune from prosecution, it likely won't be the end just yet.

source

KingDash:
this story fake as fuccck... why would a kidnapper give you a phone.. tik tok and lies.

Read to comprehend ok. The girl in question was inside a car with the kidnapper and notified another motorist with the sign. The signal was introduced in TikTok, which is where TikTok came in.

zolajpower:
Meaning

Read Na.

A teenager who went missing in the US has been found after she used hand signals that went viral on TikTok to show she was in danger.

The girl had been reported missing by her parents in North Carolina on Tuesday morning and was spotted inside a car in Kentucky two days later.

The 16-year-old used the gesture designed to help domestic abuse victims ask for help to alert a passing driver.

Authorities say they arrested a 61-year-old man.

A driver called police after noticing "a female passenger in the vehicle making hand gestures that are known on the social media platform TikTok to represent violence at home - I need help - domestic violence," the Laurel County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/0CCD/production/_121477230_signal.jpg

The hand gesture is a one-handed sign someone can use when in distress, according to the Canadian Women's Foundation.

The victim holds up their hand with their palm facing out, then tucks their thumb into their hand before closing their fingers on top of the thumb.

The campaign called the "signal for help", spread across social media in 2020 during the initial pandemic lockdowns, in an attempt to address a rise in domestic violence.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFLZEQFIm7k&t=17s

The idea was a way for domestic abuse victims to seek help using a non-verbal cue.

Videos demonstrating the signs also gained momentum in the UK in the aftermath of the murder of Sarah Everard, which sparked a debate over women's safety.

source

This Online Reviewer System was developed using PHP/PDO, HTML, CSS, Javascript (Ajax and jQuery), and AdminLTE Template. This project is the best for knowledge evaluation and it’s suitable for college and university. This system provides a comprehensive list of all of the reviews that were written by the teacher or admin. It is composed of level questions (easy, moderate, and difficult) and the students have to answer the examination with a time limit. Then, the students can view the result after taking the examination to find out if they have passed it or failed.

Visit the link to get the full details and complete source code.
https://g7conet.com/single/online-reviewer-system-using-php-pdo-with-source-code

Voters in a Twitter poll have urged Elon Musk to sell 10% of his stake in Tesla in order to pay tax. More than 3.5 million Twitter users voted in the poll, launched by Mr. Musk on Saturday, with nearly 58% voting in favor of the share sale.

The vote could see him dispose of nearly $21bn (£16bn) of stock in the electric carmaker.

He has promised to abide by the result, in response to a "billionaires tax" proposed by US Democrats.

But Mr. Musk, one of the world's richest men, has yet to comment publicly on the verdict, or how and when he would sell his stake.

Should he go ahead with the sale, it could leave him with a huge tax bill.

When disposing of large shareholdings, some chief executives use so-called "blind" sales programmes, spreading the sale over a long time period to avoid accusations of insider trading.

In an earlier tweet on Saturday, Mr. Musk said he took no salary or bonuses from any of his companies - meaning he has no earnings on which to pay income tax.

But he has made billions of dollars through a compensation package, which gives him the power to exercise large amounts of stock options when the company meets performance targets and its shares hit certain prices.

Mr. Musk has an option, which expires in August next year, to buy 22.86 million Tesla shares at $6.24 each - a fraction of Tesla's closing share price on Friday of $1,222.

Under plans proposed by the Democratic Party in the Senate, billionaires could be taxed on "unrealized gains" when the price of their shares goes up - even if they do not sell any of their stock.

It is thought the proposed tax on capital gains, whether or not assets have been sold, could hit about 700 billionaires in the US. Critics have pointed out that the value of assets does not always go up.

Mr. Musk's recent Twitter poll has raised some eyebrows in the world of finance.

"We are witnessing the Twitter masses deciding the outcome of a $25B coin flip," Venture investor Chamath Palihapitiya wrote on Twitter.

"Looking forward to the day when the richest person in the world paying some tax does not depend on a Twitter poll," Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman tweeted.

Mr. Musk is one of the most popular business leaders on Twitter, with nearly 63 million followers.

He regularly uses the platform to share updates from the companies he owns - including SpaceX and Neuralink. He is also known for sharing memes, adding to his popularity among fans.

But some posts have drawn controversy.

Earlier this year he tweeted in response to a claim, made by the head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), that just 2% of Mr Musk's wealth could help to solve world hunger.

In October, Mr Musk said he would sell $6bn in Tesla stock and donate it to the WFP, provided it could describe "exactly how $6bn will solve world hunger".

https://g7conet.com/news_single/twitter-poll-calls-on-elon-musk-to-sell-10-stake-in-tesla

It will over them some day.

https://g7conet.com/blog_images/1636205018_pexels-anna-tarazevich-6173668.jpeg.2021-09-03.how-to-manage-burnout-and-depression-as-a-developer.jpeg

Burnout usually starts with a feeling of stress and exhaustion that gets extended beyond normal. After a while, you might begin to notice a consistent lack of vigor and strength to do your work. When this is not checked, it could slide you into depression - a state where you find no meaning in life or in the activities you once enjoyed.

This feeling of stress and exhaustion could be the result of some factors like finding yourself in certain situations where you are performing below your potential and your skills and talents are not given the right form of expression to shine through.

Your environment and the use of unproductive tools for work are also factors that could cause stress for you. A toxic working environment is a good trigger for stress and so is having to work with tools that waste your time and make you feel unproductive. The accumulation of the stress you experience from any of these could lead to burnout over time.

Now, let’s talk about how you can manage burnout. In other words, what are some of the measures you can put in place to come out stronger and better if you do find yourself in a stressful situation that is leading you into burnout and a possible depression?

1. Get a longer rest than you would normally do.

You can call this “shutting down”. Take a long break that is long enough to help you recover from stress. There is no fixed number of days or weeks to do this. You can start with a few days to see if you are getting better. If not, you can try resting for a week and more. During your period of rest, it is great to avoid anything that could be a source of stress to you. Continued stress can lead to a breakdown and you do not want that.

The rest period is also a great time to reflect and identify the true cause of your burnout or depression. You can refer to the factors mentioned earlier to see if it had been any of those or you could find other factors that triggered it. The period of rest can also be used to devise strategies for overcoming these causes completely so that they do not resurface later. It is also a time to be more self-aware of the triggers for burnout and depression.

2. Seek professional help

In seeking professional help, you can find a therapist or a specialist who has worked with people suffering from depression or recovering from a burnout. They are more likely to understand how best to help you because of their experience and training.

It is also possible to find professional help online using several platforms that deal in health technology. You can download some of these apps, and sign up for telemedicine. A professional will be available to speak with you. This way, you do not need to leave the comfort of your home before you get proper care and medical advice.

3. Talk to someone – a trusted party

Even though you can seek professional help, it is possible that you might not be able to afford the services of a professional as at the time you are going through depression or burnout. Talking to someone you trust about your condition can be as therapeutic as talking to a professional. It could even be more effective because the professional could come off as being a stranger to you but your trusted party or friend will not be strange to you.

It is possible to get sound advice and counsel from a friend who has been in a similar situation and that can be all you need to receive healing and change trajectory. Talking to someone is helpful because you are able to share your burden and see your condition in a different light. I totally recommend this because I have seen it work for a data scientist and it could work for you too.

4. Engage in other activities

Burnout can be the result of you doing certain activities repeatedly. As a developer, it is possible to lose sight of time as you constantly debug and code. You might find that you are doing the same activities over and over, day in, day out. Unless you are careful enough to plan out different activities other than those related to software development, you might easily get tired from work. Even if you love what you do, your body will always need time to repair and rejuvenate from stress at work.

Find fun activities outside of work that can augment your normal routine. It can be a hobby you want to explore further, it could be travel opportunities, community projects, or hangouts with friends and families. The most important thing is that you are doing something outside of work. This is a form of rest too.

https://g7conet.com/blog_single/how-to-manage-burnout-and-depression-as-a-developer

https://g7conet.com/blog_images/1636203753_learn-to-type-fast-740x416.jpeg

As a developer, you need to understand that there are things you need to stop doing, things you need to continue doing, and things you need to start doing. The things you need to stop doing and the things you need to keep doing are not our focus of discussion. Instead, let’s focus on the things you need to start doing.

If you notice that you have already done the three things you find here, then you need to do more of them. For you, that would mean that they fall into the category of things you should continue doing.

Take breaks

Developer, take a break! Give yourself a break. One error most developers fall into is thinking that they have limited time to accomplish or tick off the items on the long to-do lists that they have on their plate. As a result, they fall into the trap of working for long hours at a stretch without taking breaks. The result of this is that you can burn out, get tired, lack the motivation to do what you love, or even quit.

Working without taking breaks clogs your thinking because you only get to see things in one direction when you stay at a task for too long. A bug can be right in front of you and you won’t see it because all you see is the same thing.

Take a break for a few minutes and come back to the same code you have been working on. You would begin to see things differently. You would think differently. You would have given yourself the opportunity to stay away so that you can come back revitalized and re-energized to tackle what seems to be evasive.

While taking a break, you can sometimes get that aha moment - that light bulb that sparks new ideas in your mind – when you take the time to walk away. Sometimes, you are not even thinking of the problem when the solution drops in your laps.
You can use the Pomodoro technique to allocate break times for yourself. You can decide to work for one hour and take 15 minutes to break afterward. There are no hard and fast rules to this. The most important thing is that you are incorporating breaks into your work. Find out what works for you.

Socialize

Developers are some of the most social beings on the planet but you would never know. That’s because you would mostly find them behind their computers and laptop coding away but they have a strong digital presence. While you might not find developers at social events like a local party, they are at online parties and in virtual communities and groups bringing some vibrant energy to the stage. Their online friends love their vibes and they do very well with socializing in the online space.

As great as the virtual and online environment is, you as a developer need to form some real relationships with those around you in physical spaces. On most days, you plug your ears with headphones and music. Virtual meetings have become the order of the day and it is easy to lose touch with the physical world and friends. Remote work has also taken over, so most of your work colleagues are in different countries and you might never meet some of them in person. You need a way to disconnect from virtual reality and connect with real reality.

Find time to have physical meetups with people. If you have mentors and mentees, physical meetings can help strengthen the bond. Friends and families would also appreciate your physical presence on days you decide to surprise them with it. Talk to people around you, don’t just chat or send messages. Sit with them to have a chat instead. Place a call to others who are very far away from you. If they are close by, pay them a visit.
Sometimes, imagine the world without the internet. Shut down your devices, breathe, think, and connect with people on a deeper level.

Get enough sleep

Don’t deny it! You have been guilty of denying yourself of some good sleep at one time or another. Some developers do not get enough sleep on some days. It could have been because of some project with a strict deadline that you wanted to meet up with. You then decided to cut away some hours of sleep from your sleeping time. When you did this, what did you notice?

Not getting enough sleep has a way of messing up your day. You might need to find another time to catch up on some sleep you missed if you are to be productive after then. Do you know the saying that you cannot cheat nature? It is very true.

You would always have to find a way to regain lost sleep in some other way. The worst combo is not eating and not sleeping well. That is a very fast way to speed up a breakdown.

You don’t need to deprive yourself of sleep to finish up your work. If you are well-rested, you would find that you can do so much in a short time and still have extra time on your hands to do other things like your side projects. Six hours of sleep every day is enough to reset your body for each new day and make you refreshed to face the day. Start getting enough sleep. You can automate your sleeping patterns, as you would do for any program. When your body knows when to sleep and when to wake, you increase your chances of success at work; it becomes a daily routine. Health is wealth and good sleep is part of a healthy and wealthy lifestyle.

Conclusion

If you have not been getting enough sleep, taking breaks from work, or forming real and meaningful relationships with those in your physical space, these are things you should start doing as a developer. If you already do great on all three, kudos and well done. Keep doing them. You are bound to become a productive developer whose work will speak for itself because you are doing the right things.

https://g7conet.com/blog_single/the-three-things-that-every-developer-needs-to-start-doing

This Job Portal is a web-based system whose main goal is to provide the right company or organization for job seekers with their experience, educational qualification, and preferences this job portal shows the list of companies that match their skills. In this system, job seekers can upload their existing resumes so and can apply directly to posted jobs. The admin of this system has the ability to view a list of job applicants and can contact them, for an interview or make some action regarding their post.

These are the following features of the system

Admin Side:
Manage Companies
Manage Job Vacancies
Manage Employee
Manage Applicants
Manage Category
Manage Users

Job Seeker Side:
Find Job
Company
Hiring Now
Apply for Job
Job Seekers Profile
About Us
Contact Us
Read more and get complete source code https://g7conet.com/single/download-online-job-portal-using-php-with-source-code

Nintendo has lowered forecasts for sales of its Switch handheld games console by 1.5 million units. The Kyoto-based game giant now says it expects to sell 24 million units this financial year - having previously forecast sales of 25.5 million units.

The Animal Crossing maker said the new forecast was because of a change in its production plan, due to the effects of the worldwide semiconductor shortage. Chip designers ARM recently warned the scarcity could delay Christmas gifts.

"Our shipment forecast for the second half was reduced because of the change in our production plan due to the effects of the global semiconductor shortage," Nintendo wrote in a document to go with its financial results.

"On the other hand, we revised the Nintendo Switch software forecast up," it said, predicting that it would sell 10 million more games than it had previously thought, bringing the total to 200 million. A number of other companies have been predicting supply issues.

Simon Segars, chief executive of chip design firm Arm, told a conference the mismatch between supply and demand is "the most extreme" he has ever seen, with the wait for chip supplies taking up to 60 weeks. "If you haven't bought all your devices yet, you might be disappointed," he warned delegates at the Web Summit event.

Next-generation games consoles like the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, have been in short supply since the start of the pandemic. In September, Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer said that the short supply of next-generation consoles was due to many issues - not just a chip shortage - and would continue beyond Christmas.

"I think regretfully it's going to be with us for months and months, definitely through the end of this calendar year and into the next calendar year," he told The Wrap. Analysts say the shortage will continue to have an impact across all kinds of consumer electronics

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently told investors that "larger than expected supply constraints" in the three months to September, had cost the company $6bn (£4.5bn) in lost sales.

Ranjit Atwal, a senior research director with Gartner, told the BBC: "The component shortage issues are industry-wide, and no vendor is immune from the impact - some may get preferential treatment, but all will be impacted. "For consumers 'first-come, first-served' will be the motto for Christmas."

Glenn O'Donnell, a technology analyst at Forrester, said the problem was unlikely to be fixed soon. "Semiconductor chips have become the basic ingredient in a wide variety of products - home appliances, consumer electronics, and toys are all affected," he said.

"Even Apple struggles to get these essential parts. An ample supply of chips will not come until well into 2023, perpetuating the electronic supply chain for another two years or so."

https://g7conet.com/news_single/nintendo-warns-chip-shortage-will-hit-switch-sales

Climate change denial is spreading unchecked on Facebook, two studies by disinformation researchers have found. The Center for Countering Digital Hate and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue said less than 10% of misleading posts were marked as misinformation. And the CCDH researchers linked the majority of these to just 10 publishers. Facebook said this represented a small proportion of climate change content.

Tracking climate denial posts

The CCDH is a non-profit organization that monitors and lobbies against online hate and misinformation. It found that of 7,000 misleading posts describing climate change as "hysteria", "alarmism", a "scam", or other related terms, only 8% were marked as misinformation. Facebook pledged to flag climate denial content early this year.

The CCDH looked at a sample of posts from the past year which attracted roughly 700,000 likes and shares. Researchers used the social media analytics tool Newswhip to search for strings of keywords including "climate change", global warming" and, "fraud", "hoax", "cult", "scam", "lie" and so on. The researchers manually reviewed every post to make sure it met their definition of climate denial and was not a post condemning such beliefs.

Highly shared articles made false assertions that climate change was not confirmed by science or claimed to debunk it with data. Of these, 69% could be traced back to just 10 "super-polluter" publishers - dubbed the "toxic ten" - the campaign group found. In fact, our understanding of climate change comes from analyses of millions of measurements gathered in different parts of the world. And multiple independent teams of scientists have reached the same result - a spike in temperatures coinciding with the onset of the industrial era.

https://www.g7conet.com/images/_121434093_gettyimages-1236315922.jpg

Flooding in Indonesia has been linked to climate change- yet some online still deny its effects Many of the shared articles also pushed the unsubstantiated belief that "climate lockdowns" will be enforced on populations. Yet scientists point out this is highly unlikely given there is no evidence the Covid lockdowns led to a significant improvement for the climate.

These posts represent the most extreme types of outright climate denial, according to the CCDH. They can't tell us the true scale of climate misinformation on the site but they do indicate climate conspiracy content is spreading without being labeled or removed by Facebook. Campaign group Stop Funding Heat, working together with think tank the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), said it had found far more misinformation which more generally "undermines the existence or impacts of climate change, the human influence on climate change, and the need for urgent action".

Research published on Thursday analyzed 48,700 posts between January and August 2021 and found just 3.6% of posts containing climate misinformation included a fact-checking label. The group also identified 113 ads on Facebook with messages like "climate change is a hoax" between January and October 2021 with an estimated spend of between $58,000-$75,000 (about £42,000- 55,000).

Role of Facebook

This appears to be a particular issue on Facebook. Counter-extremism think tank the ISD discovered during the 2021 German election that most of the top shared posts relating to renewable energy on the site (18 out of 25) either doubted climate change or criticized climate action. They found a similar trend on conversations around fossil fuels, with most of the top shared posts on Facebook (19 out of 25) arguing against climate action. On Twitter, on the other hand, the trend was reversed with most posts on the subjects promoting the scientific evidence or in support of climate action.

Reaching global audiences

Although the majority of the publishers of climate denial identified by CCDH were in the US, people from Brazil, India, Poland, Haiti, Mexico, Thailand, Russia, France, and Germany were among their top viewers. And there were climate denial posts analyzed by ISD from the UK, Australia, Russia, India, Poland, South Africa, and Japan.

A spokesperson, speaking on behalf of the Facebook platform, said the 700,000 interactions with the posts analyzed by the CCDH made up a small fraction of the total 200 million interactions with climate change content on the site. "We continue to combat climate misinformation by reducing the distribution of anything rated false or misleading by one of our fact-checking partners," the spokesperson said.

https://g7conet.com/news_single/climate-change-facebook-fails-to-flag-denial-study-finds

A firm that claims to have a database of more than 10 billion facial images has breached Australia's privacy laws, Australian regulators say. Clearview AI lets law enforcement agencies search its database of faces. But the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) ordered it to stop collecting photos taken in Australia and remove ones already in its collection. A lawyer representing the firm said it would seek a review of the decision.

Clearview AI's system allows a user - for example, a police officer seeking to identify a suspect - to upload a photo of a face and find matches in a database of billions of images it has collected from the internet and social media. The system then provides links to where matching images appeared online. Clearview AI has promoted its service to police as resembling a "Google search for faces".

The system is primarily marketed as a tool for law enforcement agencies although its clients are not limited to that. The investigation said a recent patent filing revealed interest in other uses for the technology, including: "Dating, retail, granting or denying access to a facility, venue, or device, accurately dispensing social benefits and reducing fraud."

Covert collection

On its website, the firm says it has "the largest known database of 10+ billion facial images", although the report into the investigation uses a lower figure of more than three billion. The company maintains that it only collects publicly available images from the open web, but that did not satisfy investigators.

"The covert collection of this kind of sensitive information is unreasonably intrusive and unfair," Australia's Information Commissioner, Angelene Falk, wrote. "It carries significant risk of harm to individuals, including vulnerable groups such as children and victims of crime, whose images can be searched on Clearview AI's database".

The OAIC found the firm's breaches of the Australian Privacy Act included:

1. collecting sensitive information without consent
2. collecting personal information by unfair means
3. not notifying individuals of the collection of personal information
4. not ensure that personal information it disclosed was accurate

It said Clearview must "cease collecting facial images and biometric templates from individuals in Australia, and to destroy existing images and templates collected from Australia". The investigation was carried out jointly with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

The ICO says it is still considering its next steps and any formal regulatory action that may follow. But Elizabeth Denham, the UK Information Commissioner, said it was "an investigation that will protect consumers in both the UK and Australia".

Mark Love, a lawyer representing Clearview, told the BBC in a statement that the firm had "gone to considerable lengths to co-operate" with the Australian investigation. He said the commissioner "has not correctly understood how Clearview AI conducts its business" and plans to appeal. "Not only has the commissioner's decision missed the mark on the manner of Clearview AI's manner of operation, but the commissioner also lacks jurisdiction," he said.

"Clearview AI," Mr. Love wrote, "has not violated any law nor has it interfered with the privacy of Australians. Clearview AI does not do business in Australia, does not have any Australian users." The OAIC accepted the company's assertion that it had instituted "a policy of refusing all requests for user accounts from Australia and that there is no evidence of Australian users since March 2020".

The company's founder and chief executive, Hoan Ton-That, wrote in a statement that as a dual citizen of Australia and the United States: "My company and I have acted in the best interests of these two nations and their people by assisting law enforcement in solving heinous crimes against children, seniors and other victims of unscrupulous acts."

Social scraping
Clearview's website says its images are "sourced from public-only web sources, including news media, mugshot websites, public social media, and other open sources". Automated bulk data collection from public websites is often referred to as "scraping". The OAIC investigation report notes Clearview AI "collects images from social media websites, including Facebook and YouTube".

"When Australians use social media or professional networking sites, they don't expect their facial images to be collected without their consent by a commercial entity to create biometric templates for completely unrelated identification purposes," Ms. Falk wrote.

The report notes that the terms and conditions of the sites "each prohibit this kind of scraping and a number of social media companies have sent the respondent to cease and desist letters in relation to alleged scraping from their sites".

However, Ms. Falk was critical of the social media firms, saying the case raised the question of whether "online platforms are doing enough to prevent and detect scraping of personal information". There are some signs that big tech companies are growing wary of face recognition. On Tuesday, Facebook announced that it would no longer use facial-recognition software to identify faces in photographs and videos. But online tools, and search engines, using facial recognition technology continue to operate online, privacy campaigners warn.

source: https://g7conet.com/news_single/database-firm-clearview-ai-told-to-remove-photos-taken-in-australia

Microsoft says it is adding 3D virtual avatars and environments to its Teams chat system, as part of its push towards the "metaverse".
It says its "Mesh" platform will let people meet in the virtual space, with or without a virtual reality headset.
Microsoft says the new features, which it is calling "immersive meetings" will be available in the first half of 2022.
It comes after Facebook showcased similar virtual chat rooms as part of its rebrand to name itself Meta.
While there is no single strict definition of what a "metaverse" will be, most versions envision a future version of the internet with a diverse range of interconnected virtual worlds, covering everything from gaming to education.
Both Microsoft and Meta are pitching 3D chat and collaboration, as a key part of their initial pitch.

Teams are Microsoft's business chat and video call app, similar to Zoom or Google Meet, and a version is also available for personal users.
No more webcams
Microsoft, however, is focusing less on the need for a virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) headset, though it will support them.
The 3D avatars, for example, will be able to represent a person in a remote Teams meeting when they do not want to turn on their webcam and can appear on a normal two-dimensional computer screen.
The company said its system will "use AI to imitate movements and gestures that enable you to bring your physical presence into the conversation, even when your camera is off".
https://www.g7conet.com/images/_121327215_0b58c5bb-0edc-4a13-9bcb-7b0c7fcb65da.jpg
"Too many people, too much of the time, are a static picture or bubble with initials," wrote Microsoft's John Roach in a blog post.

The avatars will also be able to animate the movement of a mouth when a microphone picks up the user speaking, to "bring additional expressivity", he said.
Companies and organizations will be able to create their own 3D spaces for meetings to their own designs, which will also work in 2D or 3D.
For those who do own a suitable VR or AR headset, Microsoft plans to allow people to move around the virtual environments using the technology, but it is not required.
It said the system had been tested out with thousands of new hires at consultancy firm Accenture, which has been using the system to "onboard" employees during the pandemic.
Microsoft has its own AR technology wing, which makes a headset known as the Hololens. But, unlike Facebook's Oculus or Valve's Index VR gaming headsets, it is marketed towards business customers.

It serves a different purpose, mixing digital overlays with real-world vision, and costs significantly more, with prices in the thousands of dollars.
The company says its initial augmented reality push was designed to be used by 3D designers, collaborating on "everything from bicycles and high-end furniture to new jet engines and sports stadiums".
It says that bringing the Mesh platform to Teams is a "gateway to the metaverse" and it believes that people who try out what it thinks is a more expressive, immersive space, will prefer it to the traditional way of a remote meeting.
Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella, explaining the new systems at Microsoft's Ignite event, said: "What's most important is that we are able to bring our humanity with us and choose how we want to experience this world.
"The metaverse is not just transforming how we see the world, it's changing how all of us actively participate in it."

https://g7conet.com/news_single/microsoft-teams-adds-3d-avatars-as-it-lays-out-metaverse-ambitions

This is a simple e-learning system developed using PHP/MySQLi. In this E-Learning system, you will be able to add students to a class, upload files, add courses, departments, subjects. It has also a form validator and a Responsive Design compatible with your Mobile Phone and Tablet. It has a very good graphical user interface for you to interact well.

The E-Learning system has 3 types of users which are the Admin, Teacher/Faculty, and the Student. The Admin user is in charge of managing the system data such as the entry list which are the Departments, Courses, and Subjects. The admin also manages the list of users, Teachers, Students, and Uploaded Files. The teachers can provide files and documents to their class and the students can download the uploaded files of their teachers.

Please follow the link to get the free source code https://g7conet.com/single/responsive-e-learning-system-using-php-mysqli-with-source-code

This is a PHP Project entitled Personnel Record Management System. This web application/system manages, stores, and retrieves the records of personnel. This Record Management System was developed using PHP, MySQL Database, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Bootstrap. The system has 2 types of users which are the Admin and the User. The Admin can manage all the data in the system including the list of system users while the Staff User has limited access to manage only. The system can able to store the list of schools, personnel positions, and personnel qualifications. The application also stores the details of the personnel with their service credits and records. The system has a pleasant user interface and user-friendly functionalities

Features

Login/Logout
Home Page (Displays the Mission and Vission)
Manage School Entry
Manage Position Entry
Manage Qualification Entry
Add Personnel
Manage Personnel Information:
View History Logs

Please follow the link to get the free source code https://g7conet.com/single/record-management-system-in-php-with-source-code

Fortress Night, the Chinese version of the popular game Fortnite, is to close later this month.

Epic Games, which owns Fortnite, has so far provided no reason for the decision to close the online shooter game.

An announcement said the game, which has been available in China as a "test" for two years, would come to an end on 15 November.

China sets strict limits on the time children can spend playing online games.

The last-player-standing style combat game stopped new sign-ups on 1 November, the announcement said, two weeks ahead of the planned shutdown.

The game was originally launched in China in 2018 in cooperation with Chinese tech giant Tencent. Many Western games need to be significantly altered for the Chinese market, both for regulatory reasons and cultural ones.

Fortress Night includes a number of changes from the original Fortnite, including measures aimed at limiting the time players spend on the game, as well as having no "microtransactions" to buy extra in-game items with real money.

In August, China's video game regulator announced that under-18s would be restricted to only an hour of online gaming on Fridays, weekends, and holidays.

The government has long been concerned about the time young people spend playing games. For example, a state media outlet branded online games as "spiritual opium" earlier this year.

Presentational grey line

Analysis

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By Kerry Allen, the China media analyst

Even though Fortnite took nearly a year to arrive in mainland China, it was hugely anticipated. Hugely successful overseas games rarely make it into the country.

There are lengthy terms and conditions set by China's strict regulators that stop games if they are seen as too violent, pornographic, or as painting the country in a negative light.

Many modern video games are not on a "blacklist" so to speak, but lengthy checks from the regulators mean that many overseas games are left waiting in a years-long queue to be authorized.

First, games companies have to secure contracts with local Chinese firms to get their games recognized. Then they are launched onto standalone Chinese servers.

This means that mainland-based users can play with each other, but they can't interact with international players.

For a while, Fortnite occupied a rare position in the Chinese market: a foreign game that cleared all those hurdles while still relatively new.

https://g7conet.com/news_single/chinese-version-of-fortnite-to-close-in-november