CDC celebrates Biden transition, expects “rebuilding,” more press briefings

Enlarge / The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters stands in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, March 14, 2020. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg) After being muted, sidelined, and disparaged by the Trump administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reportedly reveling in the transition to the Biden administration...

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SpaceX Starlink questions answered: “Wider beta” soon, no plan for data caps

Enlarge / Starlink logo imposed on stylized image of the Earth. (credit: Starlink) SpaceX Starlink engineers answered questions in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Saturday, covering topics such as data caps (which they hope to never implement), when the public beta will expand to more users, and how the satellite-broadband service will expand and...

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Apple security chief maintains innocence after bribery charges

Enlarge / Apple's global headquarters in Cupertino, California. (credit: Sam Hall/Bloomberg via Getty Images) A grand jury in California's Santa Clara County has indicted Thomas Moyer, Apple's head of global security, for bribery. Moyer is accused of offering 200 iPads to the Santa County Sheriff's office in exchange for concealed carry permits for...

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A successful liftoff for China’s most ambitious Moon mission to date

Enlarge / China's heavy lift vehicle, the Long March 5, starting its liftoff with the Chang'e 5 mission. On Monday, China successfully sent the latest in its Chang'e missions on its way to the Moon. Chang'e 5 is the most ambitious to date and, if successful, will make China just the third country to return samples from the lunar surface (after the...

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How to turn your Xbox Series X/S into an emulation powerhouse

Enlarge / Why play new games on these expensive consoles when you can emulate old ones? (credit: Sam Machkovech) After a new console is released, it usually takes hackers months or years to find a hole in the console's security that lets them install homebrew software like emulators. So it may come as a surprise that you can already load RetroArch—and...

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Rock art in a California cave was a visual guide to hallucinogenic plants

Enlarge / This red pinwheel image (left), which is around 500 years old, may depict the unfurling petals of a datura flower (right). (credit: Rick Bury and Melissa Dabulamanzi) At a cave in Southern California, archaeologists recently found centuries-old bundles of hallucinogenic plants tucked into crevices in the low ceiling, near a painting that...

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Nearly 18,000 airport workers sealed in for testing after 7 cases detected

Enlarge / This photo taken on November 22, 2020, shows health workers in protective suits waiting to conduct COVID-19 coronavirus tests on staff at Pudong Airport in Shanghai. (credit: Getty | STR) Nearly 18,000 workers were sealed into Shanghai’s main airport Sunday and tested for COVID-19 in one night after authorities detected seven cases linked...

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Tons of Black Friday 2020 deals are available now—here are the best we’ve found

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica) The Black Friday deals have landed. While the shopping holiday is technically still a few days away, a number of retailers have set several of their best Black Friday deals live early. Like everything else in 2020, this increase in advance sales is partially due to the ongoing pandemic: longer online sales (hopefully)...

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AMD laptops have a hidden 10-second performance delay. Here’s why

Enlarge / When it's on battery, your new Ryzen 4000 series laptop doesn't deliver its true performance until about 10 seconds into a full-throttle workload. (credit: Aurich Lawson / AMD) In an embargoed presentation Friday morning, Intel Chief Performance Strategist Ryan Shrout walked a group of tech journalists through a presentation aimed at taking...

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OneWeb exits bankruptcy and is ready to launch more broadband satellites

Enlarge / Illustration of a OneWeb satellite. (credit: OneWeb) OneWeb has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy under new ownership and says it will begin launching more broadband satellites next month. Similar to SpaceX Starlink, OneWeb is building a network of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites that can provide high-speed broadband with much lower latencies...

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