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For those unaware, in March, the IA had announced a “National Emergency Library” program and made 1.4 million digital books available for free temporarily from its e-book repository, Open Library to help educators and students with digital learning material, as most of the country’s schools and libraries have been shut down due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Normally, the IA online library can be accessed under certain “wait time” restrictions that allows one borrower at a time to gain access to a scanned book for 14 days....

The study found that the teens would rather accept £15 for their personal information, which is equivalent to the cost of a large pizza, than work for that kind of money. “As consumers, teens clearly understand the commercial value of their personal data,” the report says. IT solutions and managed service firm Logicalis surveyed some 1,000 U.K. teens aged between 13-17 over a period of 10 days in January. They found the kids to be “instinctively digital” and that they fully understood the value of their personal information....

The new protocol, which is called as “On-Off Noise Power Communication (ONPC), can extend the range of Internet of Things (IoT) devices like door sensors or motion detectors by more than 60 meters, according to test results. The new protocol is programmed right on top of the existing Wi-Fi protocol using the same hardware. “That’s the really cool thing about this technology: it’s all done in software,” said Phil Lundrigan, assistant professor of computer engineering at BYU....

Many of you may not know him but the laptops you use are based on the pioneering work John Ellenby did in 1980s. In fact, in the tech community, he is known as the Godfather of laptops. His son Thomas confirmed the death but said the cause had not been determined. Ellenby flirtation with laptops started when he founded Grid Systems, a company in Mountain View, Calif. As chief executive, he assembled an engineering and design team that included the noted British-born industrial designer William Moggridge....

The Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2021 covers the period from July 2020 to June 2021, and its findings cover trends across nation-state activity, cybercrime, supply chain security, hybrid work, and disinformation. According to the report, attacks from Russian nation-state actors are “increasingly effective,” jumping from a 21% successful compromise rate last year to a 32% rate this year. Also, the rate of targeting government agencies for intelligence gathering has climbed from 3% of their targets a year ago to 53% in 2021....

As for its codename, it is influenced by Google’s Daydream VR (virtual reality) initiative. While devices with as a Full HD display are also receiving certification for Daydream, Samsung wants to offer the best VR experience with the Galaxy S8 and its 4K display. For those unfamiliar, Google is working on a VR platform desgined for Android OEMs to work with on their hardware. The company has already demonstrated a 5....

The SanDisk Wireless Connect Stick is both a personal media server and a traditional USB storage drive. Particularly, it is “designed to give people a simple, intuitive way to save and access all of the great content they create and consume across multiple devices, without breaking the bank.” The theory is rather easy to understand: firstly, from your computer and load it up with any kind of file you want, then activate the accessory’s portable Wi-Fi hotspot and it’s immediately available for use with your mobile phone or tablet....

Two Virginia Tech scientists have developed models for Robots with brains that are controlled by bacteria. The details of the study was published in the July 16 edition of Scientific Reports, which is part of the Nature Publishing Group. The basic aim of scientists is to learn how bacteria controls a human brain and also to build real robots that can run on brain which is made up of bacteria....

One clip depicted Jobs’ refusal to acknowledge the paternity of Lisa, his first child, while another showed how he was maneuvered out of Apple’s boardroom in a power play. There will be a limited public premiere of ‘Steve Jobs’ on October 9, while the full scale released is planned on October 16. Michael Fassbender plays the role of Steve Jobs, where there are also other supporting actors such as Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, and Jeff Daniels....

For those who are unfamiliar with what a selfie is, here’s a brief definition: A selfie is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a digital camera or camera phone held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick. Selfies are often shared on social networking services such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The American Psychiatric Association has classified the taking of selfies as a mild mental disorder. As people become more daring in their desire to break new ground in the course of taking selfies, they can be dangerous for your health and actually “kill” you....

The hour-long event, which you can watch in the video below, included five top scientists of the space agency who went through their latest big discoveries, most of which indicated the presence of water – liquid, icy, underground, or ancient – on cosmic bodies like Mars, Europa, and Enceladus. Every time we discover traces of water on a planet or a planet’s moon, we are one step closer to finding signs of life....

Spotlight will be a dedicated space focussed around the most entertaining Snaps created by the Snapchat community. It will be a place where anyone’s content can take center stage – without needing a public account, or an influencer following. Snapchatters can share their best Snaps and see perspectives from across the Snapchat community. Further, Snapchat’s ranking algorithm looks at factors that show people are interested in a particular Snap, such as the amount of time spent watching it, if it is favorited, and if it’s shared with friends....

Over the weekend, a bunch of Nexus 6P owners took to Reddit and Twitter to complain about the spontaneous breaking of rear glass panels, flash, and laser autofocus setup on their newly purchased smartphones during normal usage and flight transit. Images of the shattered glass panel have also been posted by the users saying it happened as soon as they kept the smartphone on its back on any surface. One user claims that the glass is simply shattering and without any provocation....

The PS5 console features a white-and-black design aesthetics that match the new DualSense controller, complete with blue accent lighting. Sony’s PlayStation 5 will be available in two variants. One model will be a standard model with a 4K Blu-ray drive, while the other model called ‘PlayStation 5 Digital Edition’ will lack a disc drive, which means that it will only be able to play downloaded digital games. Since the PS5 Digital Edition lacks an optical drive, it is substantially thinner than the regular model....

It brought a wave of cheer for the Xbox fans and the gaming community. There was one company that was not happy with the development. Sony, the direct rival of Microsoft in console with the PlayStation series, is not amused for two monumental reasons. The acquisition announcement wiped $20 billion off Sony’s valuation from the market. It is approximately 13% of the total value of the Japanese multimedia giant. And the second involves the speculation of Activision going Xbox exclusive with its game....

Intended to be a “green” alternative to Bitcoin, this cryptocurrency can be mined, or cultivated, using unused storage space in SSDs and HDDs. These, in turn, consume less energy during this activity. As a result, there has been a huge demand for storage components like HDDs and SSDs for mining the cryptocurrency leading to increased pricing of high-performance HDD drives and the death of several SSD drives due to Chia mining/cultivation....

According to the latest reports from Cloud Imperium Games, Star Citizen has now earned more than $350 million. It is worth noting that, the long-in-development game reached the $300 million mark in June of 2020 and it managed to make $50 million in just nine months. In addition to crowdfunding, the two other major sources of revenue are the sales of starter packs and in-game items. The entire project has been supported by more than three million backers....

Steam Deck gets Windows 11 support Valve has sent out two new firmware updates on Steam Deck. The first update comprises improvements to the software keyboard and input calibrates. It is available via a stable channel. Steam Deck gets Windows 11 supportSteam Deck stable firmware update changelog The second update available as a beta brings a lot to the table including TPM support that you would need to install Windows 11 on the console....