Sunday, October 24, 2021

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Facebook's misinformation and violence problems are worse in India

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 03:14 PM PDT

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen's leaks suggest its problems with extremism are particularly dire in some areas. Documents Haugen provided to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other outlets suggest Facebook is aware it fostered severe misinformation and violence in India. The social network apparently didn't have nearly enough resources to deal with the spread of harmful material in the populous country, and didn't respond with enough action when tensions flared.

A case study from early 2021 indicated that much of the harmful content from groups like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bajrang Dal wasn't flagged on Facebook or WhatsApp due to the lack of technical know-how needed to spot content written in Bengali and Hindi. At the same time, Facebook reportedly declined to mark the RSS for removal due to "political sensitivities," and Bajrang Dal (linked to Prime Minister Modi's party) hadn't been touched despite an internal Facebook call to take down its material. The company had a white list for politicians exempt from fact-checking.

Facebook was struggling to fight hate speech as recently as five months ago, according to the leaked data. And like an earlier test in the US, the research showed just how quickly Facebook's recommendation engine suggested toxic content. A dummy account following Facebook's recommendations for three weeks was subjected to a "near constant barrage" of divisive nationalism, misinformation and violence.

As with earlier scoops, Facebook said the leaks didn't tell the whole story. Spokesman Andy Stone argued the data was incomplete and didn't account for third-party fact checkers used heavily outside the US. He added that Facebook had invested heavily in hate speech detection technology in languages like Bengali and Hindi, and that the company was continuing to improve that tech.

The social media firm followed this by posting a lengthier defense of its practices. It argued that it had an "industry-leading process" for reviewing and prioritizing countries with a high risk of violence every six months. It noted that teams considered long-term issues and history alongside current events and dependence on its apps. The company added it was engaging with local communities, improving technology and continuously "refining" policies.

The response didn't directly address some of the concerns, however. India is Facebook's largest individual market, with 340 million people using its services, but 87 percent of Facebook's misinformation budget is focused on the US. Even with third-party fact checkers at work, that suggests India isn't getting a proportionate amount of attention. Facebook also didn't follow up on worries it was tip-toeing around certain people and groups beyond a previous statement that it enforced its policies without consideration for position or association. In other words, it's not clear Facebook's problems with misinformation and violence will improve in the near future.

Saudi Arabia won't reach net zero emissions until 2060

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 01:41 PM PDT

Saudi Arabia is making a commitment to reduce its impact on the environment, although the timeframe won't please critics. Reutersreports Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman now expect Saudi Arabia to achieve net zero emissions by 2060. That's behind the 2050 target for the EU, United Arab Emirates, US and other countries.

The kingdom hoped to reach net zero through a circular carbon economy program while trying to bolster the "security and stability" of the world's oil markets. While the princes said Saudi Arabia would more than double CO2 emissions reductions by 2030, they maintained that the country needed time to "properly" conduct a transition.

The Crown Prince said there was a chance Saudi Arabia would hit its target before 2060, and state oil producer Saudi Aramco hopes to reach net zero by 2050. However, the country has been moving relatively slowly. It only opened its first renewable energy plant in April, and its first wind farm in August. It's still planning its first hydrogen fuel plant.

The conservative schedule isn't surprising. Although Saudi Arabia has been diversifying its economy, oil and gas represent about 50 percent of the country's gross domestic product and 70 percent of its exports. Aggressive emissions reductions could affect the kingdom's core business.

That dependence might also create problems, however. The UK and some US states are among those banning sales of new combustion engine passenger vehicles within the next 10 to 15 years, and others might not be far behind. Oil exporters like Saudi Arabia may have to adjust their emissions targets if electric vehicle sales grow quicker than expected.

Facebook sues programmer who allegedly scraped data for 178 million users

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 11:59 AM PDT

Facebook is taking legal action in response to another large-scale data heist. According to The Record, the social network has sued Ukraine national Alexander Solonchenko for allegedly scraping data for more than 178 million users. Solonchenko reportedly exploited Messenger's contact import feature by using an automated tool that mimicked Android devices. He fed Facebook millions of phone numbers and gathered data whenever the site returned info on accounts with phone numbers.

The attacker supposedly conducted the campaign between January 2018 and September 2019 (when Facebook shut down the importer), and started selling it on a black market forum in December 2020. Facebook tracked Solonchenko down after he used his forum username and contact details for email and job boards. The man has also scraped data from other targets, Facebook said, including a major Ukranian bank.

In its complaint, Facebook asked for undefined damages as well as bans preventing Solonchenko from accessing Facebook or selling its scraped data.

This isn't the largest such incident. Hackers scraped data for 533 million users through the same feature. However, this illustrates Facebook's determination to crack down on data scraping — it's willing to pursue attackers in civil court in hopes of discouraging similar data raiding campaigns.

Eero will upgrade mesh WiFi routers to support the Matter smart home standard

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 10:21 AM PDT

Eero will soon extend its mesh WiFi routers' smart home support to more universal formats. Company chief Nick Weaver told guests at a Verge event that all Eero routers with Thread support will receive an upgrade to the Matter smart home standard. Your 2017-era network could play nicely with smart devices from across the tech industry, to put it another way.

Weaver further hinted Eero was considering routers with cellular data backups, although he didn't commit to any plans. He wasn't worried about the rise of 5G home internet, noting that people were primarily moving to gigabit (wired) internet "in droves."

It wouldn't be a completely unexpected move when Amazon is upgrading most Echo speakers to support Matter. Eero is practically expected to follow along as an Amazon-owned company, and Ring has started building Eero routers into its alarm systems. Still, the update path may be particularly welcome if you were worried you might have to buy current-gen routers just to give Matter a try.

NASA plans to launch Artemis I Moon mission in February 2022

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 09:37 AM PDT

You'll have to wait a while longer for NASA's Artemis I mission. Space.comnotes NASA now expects to launch the uncrewed Artemis I flight test in February 2022, with the liftoff window opening as soon as February 12th. The Orion capsule has been stacked on top of the Space Launch System rocket, and blastoff is now mainly contingent on testing.

That testing could take a while, however. The space agency plans tests for interfaces, engineering, communications and the countdown system. The most important test is effectively the "Wet Dress Rehearsal," when the Artemis I crew will try loading and unloading the propellants several weeks before launch. NASA won't set a firm launch date until after a successful rehearsal, so you won't get definitive timing for a long while.

Artemis I will send an Orion capsule with a sensor-equipped "moonikin" around the Moon (plus organ- and bone-like "phantoms") to study acceleration, radiation and vibration during the journey. Artemis II will carry a human crew. NASA hoped to land people on the Moon in 2024, although budgetary concerns and the fight over lander contracts have cast doubt on that target.

A successful Artemis I mission would nonetheless represent an important milestone. It would demonstrate the viability of both Orion and SLS. More importantly, humans would take one step closer to venturing beyond Earth's orbit for the first time in decades.

ICYMI: Microsoft’s Surface Duo 2 still needs some work

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 09:00 AM PDT

This week, we've got a handful of reviews across several categories. Devindra Hardawar reviewed AMD's Radeon RX 6600 and determined that its lackluster performance and features made the GPU hard to praise, particularly when chip shortages have forced skyrocketing prices. Nicole Lee carried the Facebook Portal Go around her house and found its features don't entirely outweigh the flaws. I tracked my twin's daily habits with the Talli one-touch tracker and liked it more than I thought I would, plus Cherlynn Low found that she wasn't totally sold on Microsoft's latest Surface Duo 2 folding smartphone.

Microsoft's Surface Duo 2 is still struggling

The Microsoft Surface Duo 2 stands almost closed, with the logo on its back facing the camera.
David Imel for Engadget

Cherlynn Low admits right away that the Surface Duo 2 is a frustrating device, despite upgrades to the cameras, software and performance. At $1,500, it remains a pricey and niche foldable phone. The newest version offers a combined 8.3-inch screen and it runs Android 11. Cherlynn says the hardware is attractive with an impressively thin profile and a sleek silhouette. The unique 1,892 x 1,344 resolution produced some odd aspect ratios, but overall, apps expanded to cover the whole screen when the automatic-span setting was enabled.

While Cherlynn liked the 90Hz refresh rate, the lovely AMOLED panels and the video quality, she was disappointed that the Duo 2 didn't have any functionality when closed since, unlike competing smartphones, it doesn't have an external screen. She also experienced occasional software issues: the system periodically required repeated taps to register, and the UI was finicky with swipe-based navigation. But she was most let down by the camera, which disables the rear shooters depending on the position of the phone. In the end, she could only recommend the device to those who really need a dual-screen phone and have $1,500 to spare.

AMD's Radeon RX 6600 shouldn't be your first pick

AMD Radeon RX 6600
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

In his review of the Radeon RX 6600, Devindra Hardawar wonders who this GPU is for. Although the card has speedy 1080p load performance, its ray tracing was lackluster at best, its upscaling abilities are limited and it has fewer features than competing cards from NVIDIA. This makes it difficult to recommend, particularly because there's no way to estimate how much the card will cost due to the global chip shortage and ballooning prices.

During testing, Devindra found the RX 6600 to be a capable gaming card. It reached 120FPS in Destiny 2 with maxed out graphics, but stumbled when he pushed the game to 1440p. Similarly, during the Hitman 3 benchmark, the GPU reached a respectable 138fps in 1080p, but again faltered once Devindra pushed it to 1440p. He says the RX 6600 could be an upgrade for some because of its Smart Access Memory, which allows your CPU to directly address your video card's RAM. Otherwise, he says the GPU can only compete if the market stabilizes and the price drops below $300.

The Portal Go brings Facebook video chat all over your house

Facebook Portal Go
Nicole Lee/Engadget

Nicole Lee approves of the design updates made to Facebook's Portal Go, which now features a grey fabric enclosure and rounded corners. The improvements make the Go easy to prop up on a lap or hold while you walk around the house. Part tablet and part smart display, the Go touts smart camera tracking via the 12-megapixel wide-angle lens that uses AI-powered technology to automatically pan and zoom to keep you in frame. This makes it easier to get several people in the picture on a call, and it works in third-party apps as well.

Nicole says she was impressed by the video capabilities of the 10.1-inch display, which has the same 1,280 x 800 resolution as previous Portal devices. She was particularly pleased by the adaptive lighting features like Night Mode, which reduces the amount of blue light in the evening. It also provides decent audio thanks to its two full-range speakers and subwoofer, so it can double as a portable speaker in a pinch. Nicole also managed to squeeze a little over six hours out of the battery — more than the company's claims of five. Despite this, she says the Go is your best choice only if Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are your primary video call services.

Talli's one-touch tracker makes it easy to log kids habits

Talli Baby One Touch Tracker
Talli Baby

Although I like the app I use to track my twins' daily habits, I was curious about Talli's dedicated hardware. A sleek box with eight buttons , the Talli is intended to help busy parents track their kids' stats with a single button press. I have to admit: I found it a lot more useful than I thought I would. Being able to push a button to log a medication or a bottle without having to open my phone, launch an app and enter in details was a welcome relief.

The Talli tracker also pairs with an app that records and graphs your child's daily activities. The app is standalone, meaning you don't have to buy the physical tracker to use it, and there's no subscription required in order to access features or data. If you get the device, it runs on AA batteries and can be left freestanding or be wall mounted. I'll admit I had a challenging time trying to find the exact right location for the Talli. Grabbing it often resulted in an accidental button press, but that didn't diminish its usefulness. It can also work alongside an Alexa skill enabling parents to log events by saying "Alexa, tell Talli Baby that Sam had a bottle." At $99, it's a bit pricey for a single-function device, but if you're looking to establish a routine of recording your baby's habits, it can make things more convenient.

Hitting the Books: The genetic fluke that enabled us to drink milk

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 08:30 AM PDT

It may not contain our recommended daily allowance of Vitamin R but milk — or "cow juice" as it's known on the streets — is among the oldest known animal products repurposed for human consumption. Milk has been a staple of our diets since the 9th century BC but it wasn't until a fortuitous mutation to the human genome that we were able to properly digest that delicious bovine-based beverage. In her latest book, Life as We Made It: How 50,000 Years of Human Innovation Refined — and Redefined — Nature, author Beth Shapiro takes readers on a journey of scientific discovery, explaining how symbiotic relationships between humans and the environment around us have changed — but not always for the better.

Life as we made it by Beth Shapiro
Basic Books

Excerpted from Life as We Made It: How 50,000 Years of Human Innovation Refined—and Redefined—Nature by Beth Shapiro. Copyright © 2021. Available from Basic Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

The first archaeological evidence that people were dairying dates to around 8,500 years ago — 2,000 years after cattle domestication. In Anatolia (present-day eastern Turkey), which is pretty far from the original center of cattle domestication, archaeologists recovered milk fat residues from ceramic pots, indicating that people were processing milk by heating it up. Similar analyses of milk fat proteins in ceramics record the spread of dairying into Europe, which appears to have happened simultaneously with the spread of domestic cattle.

It's not surprising that people began dairying soon after cattle domestication. Milk is the primary source of sugar, fat, vitamins, and protein for newborn mammals, and as such is evolved expressly to be nutritious. It would not have taken much imagination for a cattle herder to deduce that a cow's milk would be just as good for him and his family as it was for her calf. The only challenge would have been digesting it—without the lactase persistence mutation, that is.

Because lactase persistence allows people to take advantage of calories from lactose, it also makes sense that the spread of the lactase persistence mutation and the spread of dairying would be tightly linked. If the mutation arose near the start of dairying or was already present in a population that acquired dairying technology, the mutation would have given those who had it an advantage over those who did not. Those with the mutation would, with access to additional resources from milk, more efficiently convert animal protein into more people, and the mutation would increase in frequency.

Curiously, though, ancient DNA has not found the lactase persistence mutation in the genomes of early dairy farmers, and the mutation is at its lowest European frequency today in the precise part of the world where dairying began. The first dairy farmers were not, it seems, drinking milk. Instead, they were processing milk by cooking or fermenting it, making cheeses and sour yogurts to remove the offending indigestible sugars.

If people can consume dairy products without the lactase persistence mutation, there must be some other explanation as to why the mutation is so prevalent today. And lactase persistence is remarkably prevalent. Nearly a third of us have lactase persistence, and at least five different mutations have evolved—all on the same stretch of intron 13 of the MCM6 gene—that make people lactase persistent. In each case, these mutations have gone to high frequency in the populations in which they evolved, indicating that they provide an enormous evolutionary advantage. Is being able to drink milk (in addition to eating cheese and yogurt) sufficient to explain why these mutations have been so important?

The most straightforward hypothesis is that, yes, the benefit of lactase persistence is tied to lactose, the sugar that represents about 30 percent of the calories in milk. Only those who can digest lactose have access to these calories, which may have been crucial calories during famines, droughts, and disease. Milk may also have provided an important source of clean water, which also may have been limited during periods of hardship.

Another hypothesis is that milk drinking provided access to calcium and vitamin D in addition to lactose, the complement of which aids calcium absorption. This might benefit particular populations with limited access to sunlight, as ultraviolet radiation from sun exposure is necessary to stimulate the body's production of vitamin D. However, while this might explain the high frequency of lactase persistence in places like northern Europe, it cannot explain why populations in relatively sunny climates, such as parts of Africa and the Middle East, also have high frequencies of lactase persistence.

Neither this hypothesis nor the more straightforward hypothesis linked to lactase can explain why lactase persistence is at such low frequency in parts of Central Asia and Mongolia where herding, pastoralism, and dairying have been practiced for millennia. For now, the jury is still out as to why lactase persistence has reached such high frequencies in so many different parts of the world, and why it remains at low frequencies in some regions where dairying is economically and culturally important.

Ancient DNA has shed some light on when and where the lactase persistence mutation arose and spread in Europe. None of the remains from pre-Neolithic archaeological sites—economies that relied on hunting and gathering—have the lactase persistence mutation. None of the ancient Europeans from early farming populations in southern and central Europe (people believed to be descended from farmers spreading into Europe from Anatolia) had the lactase persistence mutation. Instead, the oldest evidence of the lactase persistence mutation in Europe is from a 4,350-year-old individual from central Europe. Around that same time, the mutation is found in a single individual from what is now Sweden and at two sites in northern Spain. While these data are sparse, the timing is coincident with another major cultural upheaval in Europe: the arrival of Asian pastoralists of the Yamnaya culture. Perhaps the Yamnaya brought with them not only horses, wheels, and a new language, but an improved ability to digest milk.

The mystery of lactase persistence in humans highlights the complicated interaction among genes, environment, and culture. The initial increase in frequency of a lactase persistence mutation, regardless of in whom it first arose, may have happened by chance. When the Yamnaya arrived in Europe, for example, they brought disease—specifically plague—that devastated native European populations. When populations are small, genes can drift quickly to higher frequency regardless of what benefit they might provide. If the lactase persistence mutation was already present when plague appeared and populations crashed, the mutation's initial increase may have happened surreptitiously. When populations recovered, dairying was already widespread and the benefit to those with the mutation would have been immediate. By domesticating cattle and developing dairying technologies, our ancestors created an environment that changed the course of our own evolution.

We continue to live and evolve in this human-constructed niche. In 2018, our global community produced 830 million metric tons (more than 21 billion US gallons) of milk, 82 percent of which was from cattle. The rest comes from a long list of other species that people domesticated within the last 10,000 years. Sheep and goats, which together make up around 3 percent of global milk production, were first farmed for their milk in Europe around the same time as cattle dairying began. Buffaloes were domesticated in the Indus Valley 4,500 years ago and are today the second largest producer of milk next to cattle, producing around 14 percent of the global supply. Camels, which were domesticated in Central Asia 5,000 years ago, produce around 0.3 percent of the world's milk supply. People also consume milk from horses, which were first milked by people of the Botai culture 5,500 years ago; yaks, which were domesticated in Tibet 4,500 years ago; donkeys, which were domesticated in Arabia or East Africa 6,000 years ago; and reindeer, which are still in the process of being domesticated. But those are just the most common dairy products. Dairy products from more exotic species—moose, elk, red deer, alpacas, llamas—can be purchased and consumed today, and rumor has it that Top Chef 's Edward Lee is working out how to make pig milk ricotta, should one want to try such a thing.

T-Mobile postpones Sprint 3G shutdown to March 31st, 2022

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 08:15 AM PDT

T-Mobile will wait a while longer to shut down Sprint's 3G network. The Vergereports T-Mobile has delayed the CDMA network shutdown from January 1st, 2022 to March 31st of that year. The carrier pinned the delay on "partners" who hadn't "followed through" on helping their customers transition to newer network technology.

This would supposedly give partners "every opportunity" to fulfill their obligations. "There should be no more room for excuses," T-Mobile said.

The explanation appears to be a not-so-subtle attempt to pin the blame on Dish. The satellite TV provider bought Boost Mobile from T-Mobile in July 2020 and planned to use Sprint's legacy network until it could move Boost customers to its 5G service. Dish argued this didn't give it enough time to migrate its customers, and accused T-Mobile of anti-competitive behavior meant to push Boost exiles to T-Mobile.

This may be a response to both Dish's original accusation and the ensuing fallout. The Justice Department told Dish and T-Mobile in July that it had serious concerns about the Sprint network shutdown, asking the two companies to do whatever was necessary to lessen the blow. The delay might address those worries and reduce the chances of more serious government scrutiny.

A delayed shutdown still isn't ideal. T-Mobile expects to shutter Sprint's LTE network on June 30th, 2022. This leaves a three-month window where Boost customers might have LTE access, but nothing else. While you'll probably have made a decision by the March cutoff if you're a customer, this won't be a very gradual shift for some users — they'll have just a short period of limited Boost service before they have to embrace 5G.

Samsung's giant Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra might include a notch

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 07:01 AM PDT

Rumors have persisted of a flagship Samsung tablet even larger than the Galaxy Tab S7+, and now you might know what it looks like. OnLeaks and 91Mobiles have shared what they claim are images of the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra. The slate would minimize the impact of its huge 14.6-inch display by stuffing the front camera system into a notch — potentially distracting, but better than a conventional design that might be even larger.

The design wouldn't be quite so unusual on the other side. The leak suggests the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra would have dual rear cameras and the familiar magnetic strip to hold your S Pen. The source claimed the imagery was "not 100 percent complete," so there's a chance the design could change slightly no matter how accurate it is as of this writing.

The regular Tab S8 and S8+ models aren't expected to use the notch. They might instead be subtle evolutions of the existing designs, which tuck the front camera into the bezel.

It's not clear just when the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra would arrive. 91Mobiles speculates that Samsung might launch the design in November or December, but it would be odd to wait until the very end of the year to release an important tablet, even if chip shortages weren't a factor. It might be easier for Samsung to wait until early 2022, when it can launch the Tab S8 series alongside the Galaxy S22.

20 years ago Apple introduced the iPod, the perfect gateway drug to the Mac

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 07:00 AM PDT

It's hard to remember, but 20 years ago, Apple was not a very cool company. Sure, OS X was intriguing, and the titanium PowerBook was definitely a cool computer, But when most people thought of Apple, it was probably the bulbous, colorful iMac G3 that popped into people's heads. The company was starting to build its reputation for truly desirable products, but it wasn't solidified just yet.

That all changed on October 23, 2001, when Steve Jobs pulled the first iPod out of his pocket. For a generation of music fans, it became the quintessentially cool item that was more than just a fad. It's not a stretch to say it reinvented the music industry while simultaneously paving a path for Apple to become the world's biggest company. It was the ultimate gateway drug to getting people who had never bought an Apple product before to see what all the fuss was about.

At this point, the somewhat skeptical reception to the iPod is part of tech industry lore – particularly Slashdot's dismissal of the product as "lame" compared to a Nomad MP3 player. (Raise your hand if you ever used a Nomad. That's what I thought.) And it's not like the product was an instant hit – the first iPod cost $400 and only worked with the Mac, two factors that limited its appeal.

Those limitations helped it achieve some serious cachet, though. Seeing an iPod in the wild was a rarity, and my Mac-owning friends who were early adopters had to deal with my incessant questions and requests to hold it and spin its distinctive wheel. It didn't help that my college suite-mate (who had a titanium PowerBook and iPod) and graphic designer friend (with a PowerMac G4 and iPod) were constantly going off about how great their hardware was. I was primed to become one of those switchers Apple liked to talk about in the early 2000s.

The iPod may have started out as a Mac-only product, but less than a year later, Apple opened it up to the other 98 percent of computer users by introducing a Windows-compatible model in the summer of 2002. Less than a year after that, Apple completely redesigned the iPod and released a new version of iTunes for Windows. At the same time, Apple launched the iTunes Music Store, making it a lot easier to get legal music onto an iPod. With that, the iPod moved fully into the mainstream.

There's no good way to quantify how many people bought an iPod for Windows and then eventually switched to a Mac. But, Mac sales increased from about 3 million in 2003 to more than 7 million by 2007. Apple's move to more powerful Intel processors in 2005 likely helped adoption, but the iPod "halo effect" was often cited in the mid-2000s as a driver of the Mac's increasing popularity.

Growing Mac sales and the most popular consumer electronics device of the decade truly paved the way for the iPhone to be the monumental success that it was almost. Sure, the iPhone eventually killed the iPod, but as Steve Jobs said, he'd rather cannibalize Apple's sales with another Apple product than let some other company do it — this was how he justified the existence of the iPod touch, which was basically an iPhone without a phone.

I might be overselling the iPod to Mac to iPhone evolution, because I lived it. After getting a second-generation iPod in 2002 (embarrassing admission time: I also bought four more full-size iPods between then and 2009), I got my first Mac in 2003 and the first iPhone in late 2007. I remember being more excited about my first iPhone than my first iPod, mostly because it was light years better than the Moto RAZR I was using at the time. But my first iPod was similarly a huge step forward from the MP3 players I owned before. And in my early 20s, there was nothing more important to me than music.

That may not make me unique, but it's still true. Before the iPod was everywhere, someone else who had one was someone you could trust. They took music as seriously as you did; they knew how liberating it was to have your 100 favorite albums with you, on demand, any time you needed them. In a world where Apple Music offers access to 90 million songs anywhere you are for 10 bucks a month, that might seem quaint. But 20 years ago, it was a revelation.

I still have the last iPod I ever purchased, a 2008 iPod classic with 120GB of storage – about the same space as I have in my iPhone 12 Pro. It's still stuffed to the gills with music, some 11,000-plus songs, most of which come from albums I carefully selected over time. Most of them are still in my Apple Music library, which has now ballooned to more than double that size, with over 25,000 songs.

I'm still a firm believer in the art of making a good album, but I've also collected thousands of singles, or a handful of songs from artists who catch my ear on one of the many curated playlists out there. The music industry has changed, and so have I. Whether or not that's a good thing is a debate for another time, but there's no doubt that both the music and technology industries changed completely because of the iPod – something its humble introduction 20 years ago only barely hinted at.

Adobe gives all US employees until December 8th to get COVID-19 vaccine

Posted: 23 Oct 2021 06:06 AM PDT

More and more tech companies are issuing COVID-19 vaccine mandates to comply with the government's directives. Adobe is one of the latest to require all employees in the US to be inoculated against the virus. According to CNBC, the company has told employees in an email that they have to be vaccinated by December 8th if they don't want to be placed on unpaid leave. 

In the letter seen by the publication, the company explained that it's giving its personnel until December 8th to comply with the Biden administration's executive order. The president previously gave all federal contractors a December 8th deadline to require all their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Adobe does a lot of business with the US government. Earlier this year, it teamed up with government agencies in all 50 states to help them modernize their services with Adobe Experience Cloud and Adobe Document Cloud. It even launched the Government Rapid Response Program during the pandemic to help ensure people can smoothly access government services, such as vaccine scheduling websites. 

Adobe Chief People Officer Gloria Chen wrote in the email that 93.5 percent of the US employees who responded to an internal survey was already fully vaccinated or in the process of getting both shots. Despite the mandate, the company will consider religious and medical exemptions. The company's move echoes many others in the industry. Google started requiring all employees to be vaccinated against the virus way back in July. Meanwhile, Apple has yet to issue to mandate, but it will start requiring unvaccinated employees to undergo daily rapid testing on November 1st.
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