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Our planet has been shaped by many monumental events. From the Cambrian explosion around 540 million years ago, when most animal forms appeared, to the rise and fall of the dinosaurs, the dramatic course of biological evolution is well documented by the fossil record. Similarly, from the glaciations of the most recent ice age, to much earlier “snowball Earth” periods, when the entire planet may have frozen over for millions of years, climate change has left a clear imprint on the geological record....

Life in mandated lockdown means lots of free time. You could spend extra hours on work projects. You could finally read “Infinite Jest.” Or heck, you could even reconnect with your family. Those are all worthy goals, but it may be worth considering making a proactive move toward life beyond quarantine as well. If you aren’t thrilled with the current state of your career, maybe it’s time to make a change....

In fact, their combined sales in the US, China, and Europe are expected to outpace all other engine sales by 2033, according to the latest analysis by the multinational professional services network EY. The latest predictions show that Europe will be the first to reach the new automotive era in 2028, when EV sales are expected to outstrip those of other powertrains. Then China is slated to follow in 2033, while the US won’t reach it until 2036....

While Google’s dominance on the search market will seemingly continue for at least a few years, there have been questions over the company’s privacy-related practices. Now, two former Google execs, Sridhar Ramaswamy and Vivek Raghunathan, have launched a new search engine called Neeva. Its claim to fame is that it’s private and ad-free — but you’ll have to pay for it. The company just launched its product in the US at $4....

NASA has added a pair of interactive experiences to the enthralling array of sights and sounds generated from the Mars 2020 mission. The new tools let you explore the planet from the comfort of your home. In one, called “Explore with Perseverance,” you can follow the voyage of NASA’s car-shaped rover through a 3D simulation of the planet. You can find, for instance, the spot where Perseverance landed on Mars and the flight zone of the Ingenuity helicopter....

The live graph depicts who the likes of President Trump and Joe Biden are interacting with in the build-up to the 2020 presidential election. It’s designed to expose the networks of influence that can adversely affect elections and offer insights into communities, sectarianism, and suspicious influences. The tool’s creators selected the seed politicians from Twitter lists compiled by C-SPAN (Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network). They then added the accounts to the graph as circular nodes....

Facebook says it will be launching its cryptocurrency – GlobalCoin – “in about a dozen countries” by the first quarter of 2020. We can expect more solid details by summer, BBC reports. Over the last few months, Zuckerberg has met with Bank of England governor Mark Carney to discuss the company’s cryptocurrency plans. Zuck also met with representatives from Gemini – a firm founded by institutional crypto-bigwigs and his nemeses, the Winklevoss twins – the Financial Times reports....

Here’s what’s happening, if you report an impersonating account, Facebook will lock your account and ask for an ID for verification. However, even if you scan your ID, it won’t let you in. Check out the video below for example: Just like this clip! pic.twitter.com/IBbCtbszBl — Sayeed Joy (@thesayeedjoy) October 13, 2019 As Cory Comer, who got locked out for more than a week, highlights in his Twitter thread, this affects Facebook pages and Instagram ads too....

You can add your debit or credit card to Facebook Pay and choose if you want it available in certain apps or all Facebook apps. In the beginning, the service will be available on Facebook and Messenger to pay for fundraisers, in-game purchases, event tickets, person-to-person payments, and select pages on Facebook Marketplace. The company said Facebook Pay will roll out on Instagram and WhatsApp without specifying a timeline. It’s important to note Facebook has been testing WhatsApp Pay in India for more than 18 months....

Facebook today announced it’s working with major health organizations to integrate health reminders into the platform. The Preventative Health tool will tell users what kinds of check-ups are recommended for someone of their age and sex, as well as the optimal time for a flu shot. You can then set yourself a reminder, using the tool, to get these check-ups, which can include cholesterol checks and mammograms. This isn’t a wholly bad idea — there’s nothing wrong with people keeping on top of their medical health....

Users of the popular open source browser will now see a curated list of extensions whenever they open the “Get Add-Ons” page. These have been selected to focus on security, usability, and usefulness. In addition, Mozilla has made it easier to report malicious add-ons through the browser add-on manager. The non-profit states that’s intended to raise the overall security of the Firefox ecosystem. It’s also a smart choice. As we’ve repeatedly learned (particularly this year), add-ons are a popular attack vector used by bad actors who want to compromise a large swath of users....

Remember your old iPod? No streaming issues, no cloud connections, no data charges, just all your favorite music (and later, movies and television) right in your device whenever you wanted it. Audials One 2020 ($19.99, 66 percent off from TNW Deals) is software that gives you back the power of enjoying your songs, films and TV series your way. You can even record from literally thousands of online radio stations or find playlists with your chosen song, then record it as it’s streamed live....

According to the SEC’s complaint, submitted on December 1, 2017, PlexCorps and its owners Dominic Lacroix and Sabrina Paradis-Royer fraudulently raised millions of dollars in virtual and fiat currency by selling unregistered securities through its PlexCoin initial coin offering (ICO). The sale of such tokens, the SEC adds, was based on several false and misleading statements to potential and actual investors. These included misrepresentations about the size and scale of the company’s operations, the amount of funds raised in the PlexCoin ICO, and what these were used for....

Last year, the Microsoft-owned company launched the app’s beta version at its Universe event. Now, the full version is available for download on both Android and iOS. [Read: GitHub launches an Indian subsidiary to boost its developer community] You can’t expect to code through this app, but it provides great tools for you to manage your project. Here are the most important features: Manage tasks on your project: mark them as done, or save it for later to remind you again....

The news site reported yesterday that two spray-painted slogans on Nathan Road, the main thoroughfare in the urban area of Kowloon, had been obfuscated on Google Street View, which was updated in Hong Kong last year. According to HKFP, one read “Xi Jinping must die for the sake of the world,” while the other said “liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.” However, both of the messages could be visible when viewed from further down the road....

As per Google News Initiative’s tweet, each link will have its own card, allowing for more space. For instance, if you search for “women’s soccer world cup,” stories from major news organizations will show up in boxes, and other links will have their individual cards – as opposed to a jumble of links like you’re currently used to. You can also click on each card to see the preview of the story....

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) April 30, 2020 Yes, it seems Google Duo will allow people to contact you via email at long last. It’s not clear if it is an opt-in or opt-out feature — or whether you’ll still need to sign up with a phone number — but it’s still nice to at least have the option to use email. Google first allowed you to make called on the web with just an email account back in January, but given it’s a mobile-first app, it’s good to see some similar flexibility afforded to our smartphones....

Whilst UK customers can still buy a high cost SIM-free Nexus One directly from Google, Vodafone are quiet about a pricing structure for the Nexus One with many interested in using the carrier as a way to subsidize the cost of the handset. The launch date for the handset was thought to be around mid-April but the sudden availability of a dedicated Nexus One page and register for updates button, the release could be a little earlier than previously expected....

I get it when it comes to WhatsApp, Messenger, Gmail and Instagram, but you must be an absolute specimen of a human to want to enable dark mode on Google Play. But it turns out there’s enough specimens out there for the Big G to implement a dark theme for its mobile software distribution platform. The company announced dark mode is now available for all Android devices — so we might as well go over the steps how you can turn it on....

In the post, it explained: “We, the undersigned, employees of Google (and related companies YouTube and Alphabet), urge you to revoke Google’s sponsorship of Pride 2019, and exclude Google from representation in the San Francisco Pride Parade on June 30th, 2019.” This came days after Google banned its staff from protesting YouTube under the company’s name and on their sponsored float during Pride. The tech giant pointed out it would be in violation of the company’s code of conduct....