Track all your workouts, even underwater. Apple Watch Series 6.
Advertisement
Elon Musk co-authored a COVID-19 antibody of SpaceX workers
The study recently published in the Nature Communications, shows evidence that infected people who exhibited milder symptoms developed less of an immunity to COVID-19 than those who got sicker from the disease.
The group behind the study found evidence that suggests there’s a particular threshold of antibodies that could provide immunity, though they wrote that “the precise levels […] associated with protection from reinfection remain unclear.”
In April 2020,SpaceX employees were asked by email to be a part of the study.The employees who signed up gave monthly blood samples.
The paper’s authors note that 92 percent of the volunteers were male, and the median age was 31, which could skew the results. The full paper and dataset are available for free on Nature’s website.
Advertisement
WhatsApp explains what happens if you don’t accept its new privacy policy
WhatsApp detailed what will happen to users who do not accept its new privacy policy in the FAQ on its website.
Starting May 15, the functionality will become more limited. Users will no longer be able to read or send messages from the app. Users will still be able to receive notifications and calls, but this will be available for “a short time” only.
The new privacy policy has been controversial among some users because they worry that it allows WhatsApp to share their private messages with Facebook. However, messages between individuals on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted, so only their recipients can see their contents. What the new privacy policy entails is that messages are being sent to businesses, which may be stored on Facebook servers and whose data may be used for advertising.
WhatsApp says that it won’t delete any accounts that haven’t accepted the new terms on May 15th. Users will still be able to accept the new privacy policy after that date.
Advertisement
Google has added iOS’s privacy labels to Gmail
Google has finally added Apple App Store privacy labels to its Gmail app. The app is the second major Google app to get the labels, after they were added to Youtube.
The app shares your user ID and coarse location with advertisers, as well as information about your interaction with advertisements. Though the privacy label states that it doesn’t collect your name, physical address or phone number.
Location data is also used for analytics and there are some features of the app that will request that as well.
So far, Google’s other apps such as Photos, Docs, Maps and Chrome haven’t gotten the labels yet. But the development that both Youtube and Gmail have had them means that Google is starting to roll them out to its bigger apps.
Advertisement
Bitcoin drops after its all-time high
Bitcoin dropped on Monday after surging to its latest record high a day before as a sell-off in global equities curbed risk appetite, with a few investors also citing concern about the rapid rise in the price of the virtual currency.
Bitcoin, which rallied on Sunday to a peak of $58,354, was still up more than 80% this year. Since hitting a low in March below $4,000, bitcoin has surged nearly 1,200%.
Ethereum, which tends to move in second to bitcoin, also tumbled after hitting a record high on Saturday.It hit a three-week low on Monday and was last down about 8.2% at $1,774.
Bitcoin’s rise has been fuelled by its gaining acceptance among mainstream companies and investors such as Tesla, Mastercard and BNY Mellon.
Advertisement
Delta flight makes emergency landing after engine issue
Delta Air Lines stated on Monday that Flight DL2123 from Atlanta to Seattle on a Boeing 757-200 made an emergency landing at Salt Lake International Airport after an engine performance issue.
A Delta spokeswoman stated that the plane diverted “out of an abundance of caution following an indicator warning of a possible problem with one of its engines.”
The flight was able to land safely without incident and taxied to the date without any assistance, adding that the company was working to re accommodate customers on a later flight.
Advertisement
Elon Musk: Starlink internet speeds will double to 300 Mbps this year,
SpaceX’s satellite-based internet provider Starlink will double in speed “later this year” according to a tweet by Elon Musk. The tweet was posted as a reply to someone who just received their Starlink beta kit.
The company promises speeds between 50 to 150 Mbps. Musk specifically called out a 300 Mbps goal in his tweet.
Though 300 Mbps isn’t unheard-of speed, it is much faster than many people currently have access to. This is especially in the low-to-medium population density areas that Musk talks about targeting in a second tweet.
In the reply, Elon also tells the person that their latency should improve to around 20ms as well. In the speed test screenshots, their latency was at 34 and 44ms respectively, while Starlink’s website says to expect between 20 and 40ms during the beta.
Advertisement
Microsoft plans to get text predictions next month
Microsoft plans to include text predictors to Word in March.
The new feature will work similar to Google Docs’ Smart Compose option, which uses machine learning to predict the words an author will need to speed up document creation.
Originally, Microsoft announced the beta of text predictions last year but it is now on the Microsoft 365 roadmap to reach all Word users on Windows next month. MS Word will highlight grayed out predictions when users write a document, then the suggestions can be accepted with the Tab Key or rejected by hitting escape. The Text predictions can also be disabled completely by Word users.
Microsoft also started rolling out identical text predictions in Outlook for Windows this month, allowing users to compose emails faster. These Gmail-like text predictions also rolled out to Outlook on the web last year, alongside a feature to let people schedule when emails would be sent.
Advertisement
SpaceX announces second crew member of its all-civilian space mission
SpaceX announced Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, will join the first all-civilian trip to space.
As part of the Inspiration4 mission, Hayley will orbit Earth for up to five days in the Crew Dragon capsule.
Crew members are selected based on “mission pillars of leadership, hope, generosity and prosperity,” according to the press release for the mission. Arceneaux, SpaceX said, will represent hope.
If it all goes as scheduled, the mission is slate for late 2021. Arcenaux at 29 years old, could be the youngest American to go to space. The selection process for crew members involves a fundraising effort for St. Jude, including a sweepstakes where people can donate to St. Judes for chances to be the third member.
Advertisement
Netflix’s newest feature automatically downloads shows based on what you like
Netflix adds a new mobile feature that will automatically download movies and show recommendations based on viewer history. Downloads For You launched globally on Monday for Android users, the company announced.
You will need to opt in to use the new feature. Once toggled on from the downloads tab, you will need to set the amount of space- 1GB,5GB or 3GB- you would want to use.
More space means more Netflix recommendations downloaded. TechCrunch said in a report that although Netflix’s full catalog is available with the feature, there would be some downloads that are limited because of licensing restrictions.
Netflix continues to improve its offline watching features; in 2018 the platform launched Smart Downloads on Android, which automatically deletes downloaded episodes after they have been watched. Downloads For You is only currently available on Android but an iOS version will start testing soon.
Advertisement
