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As massive as Jupiter. That’s the size of an exoplanet spotted by the European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft. Some context: Jupiter is equal to about 318 Earths, so this thing is huge. The exoplanet, Gaia 4b, is 244 light-years away and 64% as big as the sun. A year there? About 570 Earth days.
Tags: Earth, European Space Agency, space, spacecraft
The term “forever chemicals” is floating around more than ever. If you’re wondering why folks are so worried about them, the clue’s in the name.
These substances stick around for a long, long time, and it’s not clear how safe they are. They’re also everywhere, from your phone and smartwatch tech to carpets to nail polish.
🎣 Gone phishing: I’ve done this with my team. It’s just smart. More companies are phishing their own employees to see how easily they fall for scams. Some are scary, like fake Ebola outbreaks, and others are just plain mean, like a “lost puppy” in the parking lot (paywall link). A weak link can cost you your entire company, so you need to know who needs cybersecurity training.
On the tip of my tongue: Researchers are developing a lickable lollipop that lets you “taste” in virtual reality games. It’s packed with small gel pouches that mix with your saliva to create flavors like salt, sugar, cherry and even milk. (Ew.) An electrical current triggers the flavors, and the voltage controls how much you get. That means game designers can mix and match for custom tastes.
🧬 Evolution ain’t finished: Scientists think we’ll look a lot different in 1,000 years. Theories include darker skin, better-looking faces from selective dating, smaller brains, freakishly long arms, shorter statures, and big eyes made for low gravity and dim light. Oh, and let’s not forget the biohacking and cybernetic upgrades. Here are a few pics.
Heads-up, fellow pet owners: Microchipping company Save This Life shut down, so your furry friend’s chip might not be registered anymore. If you’re unsure, take them to a vet or shelter to get scanned. If a number pops up, you should be good to go. Plug it into the AAHA lookup tool to double-check. If the chip is invalid, ask your vet for an alternative.
💻 The nerd in me loves this: The world’s fastest supercomputer just went online at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. The $600 million El Capitan is powered by 44,544 AMD chips. Its job is to secure the U.S. nuclear stockpile, run national security research and crunch other classified tasks. How fast is it? Its peak performance is 2.746 exaflops. That’s about 69 million times faster than a top-of-the-line MacBook.
Almost three years after the iPad 10: Apple’s new base model iPad 11 is coming this spring with a chip upgrade from the A14 Bionic to A17 Pro (about 40% faster), double the RAM (4GB to 8GB) and Apple Intelligence. If you don’t care about AI, the 10th-gen iPad is 20% off right now.
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This is a Pisa work: Scammers created a deepfake voice of Italy’s defense minister to call big names like Giorgio Armani and Prada’s Patrizio Bertelli (paywall link). The fake minister said journalists had been kidnapped and they needed cash to pay the ransom. At least one fell for it, wiring over $1 million to scammers.
😡 Justice, served: This is horrifying. A woman received a webpage filled with deepfake porn of herself, along with detailed, disgusting fantasies, and the page included her phone number, address and other private info. She went into full detective mode. The culprit? A close friend from college. A judge threw the sicko in prison for nine years.
🤝 I want to be your secret helper and mentor: I’ve been around tech forever. My business has thrived for over 20 years without debt or investors. If you have an issue, problem or question about your life or business, I’d love to help you. Ask me here on my site. I read every single note.