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Google's fired 'diversity memo' engineer exits lawsuit for arbitration: report
The former Google engineer whose firing inflamed America's culture wars is abandoning his lawsuit against the company in favor of arbitration, according to a new report. Two men who joined the suit will continue the court fight, the report said.
James Damore was ousted last year from his software-engineering job over an internal memo he wrote ...Read more
Qualcomm launches chips to deliver multi-gigabit Wi-Fi speeds
As the wireless industry races to bring faster speeds to consumers and businesses, 5G cellular networks get most of the headlines as they ready for major rollouts next year.
But Wi-Fi chip makers also aim to deliver multi-gigabit speeds. While Qualcomm is a big player in 5G, it also has a Wi-Fi business. On Tuesday, the San Diego company said ...Read more
Study: The more equal women and men are, the less they want the same things
Imagine an egalitarian society that treats women and men with equal respect, where both sexes are afforded the same opportunities, and the economy is strong.
What would happen to gender differences in this utopia? Would they dissolve?
The answer, according to a new study, is a resounding no.
The findings, published Thursday in Science, ...Read more
You can now download your Apple user data — here's how
As other tech giants face increasing scrutiny over privacy, Apple is continuing to try to position itself as its champion.
Apple this week launched a privacy portal for U.S. users. From there, they can now download the data the company has on them, something European users have been able to do since May, when the General Data Protection ...Read more
Manufacturers adopt robots that help human workers, not replace them. For now
During more than 25 years as a factory worker, David Young has seen a parade of robots take over tasks he and his colleagues used to do by hand.
So Young, a machine operator, isn't fazed by the sleek new "cobot" -- collaborative robot -- perched at his workstation at Kay Manufacturing in Calumet City, Ill.
The silver cobot, resembling a modern...Read more
Breakthrough Prize awards scientists $22 million — and star status
Lights. Camera. Science.
In a scene out of Hollywood, researchers and celebrities will gather in an ornately choreographed fete in a NASA Ames hangar in early November to celebrate $22 million in prizes for discoveries in math, physics and the life sciences.
The winners of the Breakthrough Prize, announced on Wednesday in advance of the Nov. 4...Read more
With profit rising, U.S. Bank passes a milepost in digital banking
One out of two U.S. Bank customers now use the firm's digital apps and online services, executives said Wednesday, a crossover point that shows the company's success in migrating to a new form of business while maintaining profits.
Its parent Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp reported another quarterly profit record, shaped by gains in fees for ...Read more
Tech Q&A: How an online bank knows who you are
Q: Besides entering my user ID and password, my financial institution makes me verify my identity by entering a personal identification number (PIN) that is sent via text, email or phone call. Even after that, I'm always asked whether my PC is a public or private computer (it's private).
I think I'm asked all this because my PC's internet ...Read more
Jeff Bezos: Tech companies shouldn't 'turn their back' on U.S. government
Jeff Bezos is defending Amazon's work with the Defense Department, saying his company will continue to bid on U.S. government contracts amid protests by employees.
Amazon's CEO made the comments during an interview Monday at the Wired 25 conference in San Francisco.
"If big tech companies are going to turn their back on U.S. Department of ...Read more
Big Peter Thiel donation shows he's still with Trump
Tech billionaire investor Peter Thiel has again put his money where his mouth is: He's still with Trump.
With $250,000, Thiel was the biggest donor to the Trump Victory Committee in the most recent quarter, a new Federal Election Commission filing shows.
The donation, dated July 10, appears to be the first donation by Thiel to the organization...Read more
What Civil War soldiers can teach us about how trauma is passed from generation to generation
An experience of life-threatening horrors surely scars the person who survives it. It also may have a corrosive effect on the longevity and health of that person's children and, in some cases, on the well-being of generations beyond.
The latest evidence of trauma's long shadow comes from the families of American Civil War veterans. Focused on ...Read more
Facebook lured advertisers by inflating ad-watch times up to 900 percent: lawsuit
Not only did Facebook inflate ad-watching metrics by up to 900 percent, it knew for more than a year that its average-viewership estimates were wrong and kept quiet about it, a new legal filing claims.
A group of small advertisers suing the Menlo Park social media titan alleged in the filing that Facebook "induced" advertisers to buy video ads ...Read more
Elizabeth Warren's DNA test: How reliable is it?
DNA databases contain few, if any, samples from people of Native American descent who live in the United States, as tribal elders have discouraged members from participating in population genetics studies.
So how could researchers determine that Sen. Elizabeth Warren had a Native American ancestor?
They compared the Massachusetts Democrat's ...Read more
Amazon's updated Kindle Paperwhite is lighter, waterproof
Amazon on Tuesday introduced an updated version of its Kindle Paperwhite, the lightweight version of the retail giant's e-reader, for the first time in three years.
The new model is about 10 percent lighter and thinner than the previous edition, which was released in 2015. It comes with more tools to customize and save page display settings to ...Read more
Allegations of sexism and harassment roil Riot Games
LOS ANGELES -- Riot Games casts itself as the kind of place where gamers dream to work. Its tricked-out Los Angeles campus features a pirate-themed coffee bar, a gourmet cafeteria and spare workstations where employees can fire up "League of Legends," the company's sole title. In what the company calls its manifesto, Riot says it knows "talented...Read more
Huge earthquake simulator to get an upgrade
SAN DIEGO -- The University of California, San Diego's outdoor shake table in Scripps Ranch will soon give engineers a truer sense of the fury released when big earthquakes erupt in places around the world,
The National Science Foundation gave the school $16.3 million to upgrade the center so it can more accurately simulate quakes, a complex ...Read more
So many people have had their DNA sequenced that they've put other people's privacy in jeopardy
Everyone's DNA sequence is unique. But for those who wish to maintain their genetic privacy, it may not be unique enough.
A new study argues that more than half of Americans could be identified by name if all you had to start with was a sample of their DNA and a few basic facts, such as where they live and how about how old they might be.
It ...Read more
Pot enhances sexual desire, according to science
Long before molly (MDMA) came on the scene, pot was considered the drug of choice to get in the mood for love. Now science is confirming what children of the '60s have long known. Marijuana can make you more amorous more often.
A research study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine (JSM) explored the connection between pot and sex, "to elucidate ...Read more
Guess what these young dinosaurs ate when their parents weren't looking
Imagine a crew of hungry toddlers and kindergartners with unrestricted access to the kitchen. Would they gorge themselves on candy, chips and ice cream?
For a type of fast-growing youngster that lived 150 million years ago, the answer instead was a diverse, nutritious diet, rich in tender greens.
That finding resulted from the discovery, ...Read more
Microsoft partners with professional cricketer to make smart bat technology
Microsoft is teaming up with prominent Indian athlete Anil Kumble to debut a cricket bat that can track batting analytics in real-time, and send them straight to fans.
Kumble on Thursday announced the Power Bat, a bat equipped with an internet-connected sensor that communicates with a receiver buried in the cricket pitch and analyzes data ...Read more
Popular Stories
- Qualcomm launches chips to deliver multi-gigabit Wi-Fi speeds
- What Civil War soldiers can teach us about how trauma is passed from generation to generation
- Elizabeth Warren's DNA test: How reliable is it?
- Breakthrough Prize awards scientists $22 million — and star status
- Manufacturers adopt robots that help human workers, not replace them. For now
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