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SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2024-- The way people pay and get paid has changed more in the past five years than in the last 50. Consumers have evolved, adapting to new payment experiences – from the advent of embedded, digital commerce to the rapid adoption of “the tap.” Today at the annual Visa Payments Forum in San Francisco, Visa (NYSE: V) unveiled new products and services that will revolutionize the card and address the future needs of businesses, merchants and consumers and the financial institutions that serve them. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240515563838/en/ “The...

A solar flare measured at X8.7 on the strength scale just emerged from AR 3664, the sunspot region responsible for last weekend's solar storms that sparked vivid auroras.That's the most powerful solar flare of the current cycle, absolutely the most powerful since 2017, and comfortably within the top 20 solar flares ever measured.As AR 3664 made its way toward the edge of the Sun's disk, it wasn't just the X8.7 flare on May 14 that erupted from the solar limb. On May 15, an X3.4 flare followed suit, suggesting that the giant sunspot region is going to continue its party...

ransomnote: I posted Matt Taibbi's introduction to the article below. Follow the link for the core of the article.Susan Schmidt, Andrew Lowenthal, Tom Wyatt and 5 others provide a well organized overview to their extensive research. They describe 30 main players in the Censorship-Industrial Complex (CIC), and another 20 in the 'honorable mentions' catagory. I will put a hyperlinked table of contents in post #1. Illustration by mrmooremedia.comIntroduction by Matt TaibbiOn January 17, 1961, outgoing President and former Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower gave one of the most consequential speeches in American history. Eisenhower for eight years had been...

A friend and I have been doing experiments with internet search engines..... If you are less than happy with the way that politically incorrect and/or controversial views keep getting scrubbed off the internet, try yandex.com for searching.. One possibility, try searching for 'pizzagate' on your primary search engine and then on yandex. Russians don't sem to care about political correctness...

Warren Buffett hasn’t found a lot to like in the stock market recently.In each of the last six quarters, Buffett has sold more stocks for Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) than he bought. Last quarter, he sold off a big chunk of his Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) position and the entirety of his Paramount Global (NASDAQ: PARA) investment. All told, he sold nearly $20 billion worth of stocks from Berkshire’s portfolio, and he bought less than $3 billion.Buffett lamented investment opportunities for Berkshire are few and far between as the company grows bigger. With a market cap of about $877 billion, there...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly ubiquitous and is improving at an unprecedented pace...But there are risks in embracing any new technology, especially one that we do not fully understand. While AI could be a powerful personal assistant, for example, it could also represent a threat to our livelihoods and even our lives.The various existential risks that an advanced AI poses means the technology should be guided by ethical frameworks and humanity's best interests, says researcher and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) member Nell Watson.In "Taming the Machine" (Kogan Page, 2024), Watson explores how humanity can wield the...

Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam set up the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards a few years ago and were amazed at the success. This spurred them on to launch the Comedy Pet Photography Awards with a cash prize of £500 for the best overall photo. There are 30 finalists in the 2024 competition and you can vote for your favourite, click on your favourite image at this link: leave your email address, and that’s it. You will automatically be entered into a prize draw to win £100 and the overall winner will be announced on June 6. Our readers prefer cash;...

No matter what I try, I can't get my screen background to be a black background. I'm 74 years old with cataracts and the white background just washes out the foreground text. Is there any way to make a dark background? No matter how I change my computer settings, Freerepublic still has a white background.

Google is coming in for sharp criticism after video went viral of the Google Nest assistant refusing to answer basic questions about the Holocaust — but having no problem answer questions about the Nakba. “Hey Google, how many Jews were killed by the Nazis?” Instagram user Michael Apfel asks a Google Nest virtual assistant. The video was later posted to X by venture capitalist Josh Wolfe on May 8. “Sorry, I don’t understand,” The same token answer was offered to other related questions including “How many Jews were killed during World War II? Who did Adolf Hitler try to kill?...

A British expat has been busted in Thailand for bombarding a restaurant with bad reviews. The 21-year-old man, identified only as Alexander, was investigated by both the Central Investigation Bureau and Royal Thai Police over the reviews sparked by a feud he had with the owner, according to the Phuket News. He reportedly wanted to use the Italian eatery as a shortcut to the Phuket apartment he’d been renting since 2022 — but the owner refused because he was not a paying customer. The Brit is accused of seeking revenge by getting his friends to flood the restaurant with one-star...

The NFL is close to finalizing a deal with Netflix to carry its upcoming Christmas Day slate. That's fine. Netflix costs anywhere between $6.99 and $22.99 a month. However, Netflix is yet another bill that fans have to pay to watch the NFL closely this season. Let's review: Viewers still need basic cable to watch games on CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN, ABC and NFL Network. Did we miss any? Cable options include YouTube TV, DirectTV, Dish, Xfinity, AT&T, Spectrum, etc. etc. On average, cable costs around $80 a month. **SNIP** To watch the NFL this season, you need cable (ESPN,...

Apple is saying it “missed the mark” with a controversial ad for its new iPad Pro. Apple’s vice president of marketing communications, Tor Myhren, said in a statement to AdAge, “Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world. Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad.” “We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry,” he added. AdAge reported that Apple no longer plans to air the ad on TV. On...

If you haven’t tuned into the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting to see highlights, a certain moment is grabbing headlines but another more nuanced one is where your attention should go.The most poignant moment of the day was when Warren turned to his new right-hand man Greg Able but invited former lieutenant Charlie Munger for his views. The simple question “Charlie?” was enough to melt hearts as it became clear the one-two punch duo of Charlie and Warren that had been a staple of these Woodstock for Capitalists meetings for decades still lived on in Warren, and is a habit...

It was set to be the world's first flight test for an aerospike rocket engine, but the MIRA I prototype crashed on takeoff before the most innovative part of its propulsion system could fire. Undeterred, Polaris is building two bigger prototypes. The MIRA I, from German aerospace startup Polaris Raumflugzeuge, was traveling at approximately 105 mph (169 km/h) during takeoff when a "landing gear steering reaction" plus a side wind caused a "hard landing event," rendering the space plane inoperable and it's fiberglass airframe damaged beyond repair. Its subsystems remained mostly intact – however, rather than attempt to repair the...

A rendering of the excitatory neurons in a section of the sample. (Google Research & Lichtman Lab/Harvard University. Renderings by D. Berger/Harvard University) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A nanoscale project represents a giant leap forward in understanding the human brain. With more than 1.4 petabytes of electron microscopy imaging data, a team of scientists has reconstructed a teeny-tiny cubic segment of the human brain. It's just a millimeter on each side – but 57,000 cells, 150 million synapses, and 230 millimeters of ultrafine veins are all packed into that microscopic space. The work of almost a decade, it's the largest and most detailed...

Scientists from the Netherlands and South Korea say they have made a significant leap towards artificially replicating the human brain by developing a device called the “iontronic memristor.” Researchers say this novel device, barely larger than a human hair, functions as an artificial synapse, mimicking the brain’s unique ability to process and share information. “The brain’s computing principles (neurons connected by synapses) and information carriers (ions in water) both differ fundamentally from those of conventional computers,” researchers wrote. “Building on this distinction, we present an aqueous memristor that emulates the brain’s short-term synaptic plasticity features through ion transport in water,...

Credential theft is a significant factor in breaches, resulting in 38% of all incidents. Phishing is another route into the enterprise, being associated with 15% of all breaches. The most frequently used entry point for phishing is Web applications, followed by email.The report, which analyses 20,358 security incidents and 10,626 confirmed breaches offered by third-party contributors including the US Secret Service and dozens of other organizations and companies; publicly-known data breaches; and security events mitigated by its own Verizon Threat Research Advisory Center (VTRAC), emphasised the critical role the human element plays in introducing risk into the equation.

Above: The tiny, spherical robots (shown in light yellow) collect bacteria (green) and small pieces of plastic (gray) from within water while under the influence of a rotating magnetic field (Pumera, et al/ACS Nano 2024). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scientists report the development of microbiotic swarms that capture microplastics and potentially harmful microbes in water, paving the way for new approaches to combatting pollution in our oceans and waterways. According to new research led by Martin Pumera and colleagues, a microscale robotic system has been developed that can attract and then remove microplastics and harmful bacteria from water. These tiny plastic particles, often...

A billionaire's new wife has gone viral after she apparently tried to bully a woman who shares her new name into selling her Instagram handle. Katherine Asplundh, formerly Driscoll, married Cabot Asplundh, 27, of the Pennsylvania billionaire family at a reception in Palm Beach, Florida, two weeks ago. After the happy couple exchanged vows, Katherine, an influencer with over 14,600 Instagram followers, attempted to change her handle from @katherinedrisc to @katherineasplundh, but her desired username was already in use.

@TopoGigio_sol Jack, honest question. How did you let it get so bad at Twitter? How did it become so captured with out you being able to step in and fix it. The algo needs help here on X, but directionally much better than it was, as a platform @jack only way to truly “fix it” is with open protocols. corporations can build upon them too. @wallstsavage80 Would be nice if you answered the original question without rhetoric Jack It’d be refreshing to read it @jack i've answered so many times. if it was "captured" it was by the advertising model...