EU Commission To End AstraZeneca and J&J Vaccine Contracts at Expiry

The EU Commission has decided not to renew COVID-19 vaccine contracts next year with AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Italian daily La Stampa reported on Wednesday, citing a source from the Italian health ministry. Reuters: "The European Commission, in agreement with the leaders of many (EU) countries, has decided that the contracts...

1m

Parallels 16.5 Can Virtualize ARM Windows Natively on M1 Macs With Up to 30% Faster Performance

Parallels today announced the release of Parallels Desktop 16.5 for Mac with full support for M1 Macs, allowing for the Windows 10 ARM Insider Preview and ARM-based Linux distributions to be run in a virtual machine at native speeds on M1 Macs. From a report: Parallels says running a Windows 10 ARM Insider Preview virtual machine natively on an M1 Mac...

21m

Sweden Drops Russian Hacking Investigation Due To Legal Complications

The Swedish government dropped today its investigation into the 2017 hack of its sports authority, citing legal constraints that would have prevented prosecutors from charging the Russian hackers responsible for the intrusion, which officials claimed were mere pawns operating on behalf of a "foreign power." From a report: This marks the first time that...

1h

Biden Rushes To Protect the Power Grid as Hacking Threats Grow

A White House plan to rapidly shore up the security of the U.S. power grid will begin with a 100-day sprint, but take years more to transform utilities' ability to fight off hackers, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing a draft version of the plan confirmed by two people. From the report: The plan is the policy equivalent of a high-wire act: it provides...

1h

'Master,' 'Slave' and the Fight Over Offensive Terms in Computing

Nearly a year after the Internet Engineering Task Force took up a plan to replace words that could be considered racist, the debate is still raging. The New York Times: What started as an earnest proposal has stalled as members of the task force have debated the history of slavery and the prevalence of racism in tech. Some companies and tech organizations...

2h

Huawei Blames US for Global Chip Supply Crunch

Huawei has blamed the U.S. for the chip crunch rocking the global tech industry, saying Washington's sanctions against Chinese companies have spurred panic buying of semiconductors and other supplies. From a report: "Because of the U.S. sanctions against Huawei, we have seen panic stockpiling among global companies, especially the Chinese ones. In the...

3h

Coinbase Sets Direct Listing Reference Price At $250/Share, Valuing the Company At As Much As $65 Billion

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Coinbase, the American cryptocurrency trading giant, has set a reference price for its direct listing at $250 per share. According to the company's most recent SEC filing, it has a fully diluted share count of 261.3 million, giving the company a valuation of $65.3 billion. Using a simple share count...

4h

T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T Have Reportedly Killed Their RCS Joint Venture

According to a new report from Light Reading, the three major U.S. carriers (four at the time) have reportedly abandoned their joint venture to launch a new Cross Carrier Messaging Initiative (CCMI), that promised interoperability for an RCS Universal Profile-based messaging standard. It was originally set to be launched in 2020. [For a detailed explanation...

7h

FCC Urges Americans To Run Internet Speed App To Counter Broadband Data Fudging

The FCC is encouraging netizens to use its internet speed mobile app in an effort to finally get accurate broadband data across the United States. The Register reports: In an announcement on Monday, the telecoms regulator noted that "the app provides a way for consumers to test the performance of their mobile and in-home broadband networks" and "provides...

10h

Australia's NDIS Gets a Government App With Blockchain But No Ethics

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: Good news, disabled Australians! You'll soon be getting an app that will implement a welfare compliance regime designed by the people who brought you robo-debt. But don't worry, it'll have blockchain. No, this isn't good news at all. What makes it worse is that it's clear the government wants to extend...

13h