Technology

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The popular messaging app ToTok, developed by Emirati developers Breej Holding, has been banned from Google and Apple's app stores following the revelation that the app functions as a mass surveillance tool for the Emirati government. Breej Holding was discovered to be connected to UAE cyber intelligence group DarkMatter, and ToTok was found harvesting users' location and messaging data.

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Chinese app Tiktok has been banned for use on government-issued mobile phones and tablets in the US Navy, due to rising security concerns about the app's connections with the Chinese government. All US Navy personnel have been asked to delete Tiktok from government devices, failing which their access to the Navy Marine Corps Intranet will be revoked.

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Uber might be facing a ban in Germany after courts ruled its collaboration with certain private hire vehicle companies was in violation of German law. These companies violated German law by allowing drivers to wait in streets after dropping off rides, instead of returning to their company's base. Uber has assured the court that it will make the necessary changes to comply with local laws.

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Apple has announced that it will give out large cash prizes to anyone who can find bugs in their various software. The cash prize depends on the kind of bug that was found and can go up to $1 million. This program was previously only open to a selected group of cyber security experts.

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Motorola has announced that their new foldable smartphone, The Razr, will not be available for pre-order on December 26th as scheduled. The phone's release has been delayed due to unexpectedly high demand, not due to any production or design flaw. Motorola has not said when the phone will be available.

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According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple has hired a number of aerospace engineers as well as some antenna designers to work on their new satellite project. Apple intends to launch satellites into space in order to provide data services directly to its users. The project is in its early stages and may still be scrapped.

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Ever since the disastrous meltdown at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, public opinion of nuclear energy in the country is at an all-time low. The anti-nuclear movement has gained a lot of popularity in Japan as the country slowly weens itself off of nuclear energy. It seems unlikely that Japan will become reliant on nuclear energy in the near future.

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The Pentagon has started a new program to stockpile rare earth magnets that are used in missiles and fighter jets. This is their attempt to build a domestic industry of these magnets as they are currently exclusively made in Asia. China has dominated this market for years and is using it against the US in its trade war.

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A team of Swedish astronomers working under the name "Vanishing and Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations" analysed data from the US Naval Observatory from the 1950s, and found that it contained about a hundred stars that were not in current astronomical data. Explanations for the missing stars range from unknown physical phenomena to possible alien civilizations.

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Boeing plans to test-launch its new CST-100 Starliner spaceship into orbit on Friday. The ship will be used to taxi astronauts to and from space once it is fully approved by NASA. The test launch will be unmanned but the company hopes to begin manned missions as soon as possible if all goes well.

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Toyota has announced that they will be adding self-driving technology to commercial vehicles such as taxis and on-demand ride service cars. They have said that it will take time before the tech is available for personal vehicles as it is not advanced enough yet. The software is currently able to drive on the highway without human interference.

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There are thousands of islands in the Pacific that still do not have internet access as so few people live there. A satellite startup called Kacific has found that enough people live on these islands that launching a satellite to give them internet access will be profitable. SpaceX has already launched the first of these satellites.

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Websites and services managed by the government of New Orleans, USA, were targeted in a cyberattack, due to which employees were instructed to take all servers, computers and other devices offline as a precaution. No theft of data or passwords was detected, and the NOLA.gov website was taken offline until officials could be certain that government systems were not compromised, though emergency services were still maintained.

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Hyperloop is a high-speed transport system that uses electric propulsion to send people through large vacuum tubes via pods built for high speeds. The technology is currently still being tested in the Nevada desert but scientists claim that the technology has progressed very fast and may soon become a reality.

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Oklo, an energy company in the US, has been given a permit to lease out some land in Idaho for the construction of a small nuclear reactor. According to the company, the new revolutionary reactor could produce heat and electricity for the next 20 years on just one load of fuel.

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Rotterdam, a city in the Netherlands, now has a fully functioning dairy farm attached to its port. The farm contains 35 cows and is almost completely self-sufficient. The company behind the farm intends to make cities less reliant on nearby farmland for sustenance, especially since land is in short supply in the Netherlands.

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Cigna, a large health insurance company, is about to start using artificial intelligence to better manage patients. The AI will be able to tell if the patient is not adhering to their medication schedule and will allow pharmacists to keep track of a patient's condition. They hope the AI will help reduce costs and benefit patients.

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Facebook reported that a during a recent car break-in targeting a company employee, the personal financial information of 29,000 employees had been stolen. The data was stored on an array of hard drives kept in the employee's car. Facebook stated that the break-in did not seem to be deliberately targeting company information, but is nevertheless providing identity and credit fraud monitoring for all affected employees.

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Bob Diachenko, a researcher specializing in finding security flaws in online databases, discovered a crucial vulnerability in the database maintained by LexisNexis regarding politically exposed persons, which tracks critical financial and political indicators for 4.5 million people and is utilized by banks to identify and manage risky customers. The vulnerability allowed public access to the records from a simple Google search, and has been fixed after Diachenko identified it.

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Tesla has officially filed for a patent for windshield wipers that will clean the screen via lasers that will burn away dirt particles. The company intends to expand this technology and use lasers to clean solar panels as well as roof tiles. This new laser cleaning method will be much more time-efficient.

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The popular investment app Robinhood recently received a new feature called Cash Management, which will allow users to keep uninvested cash in an account where it can earn risk-free interest similar to a checking account. Currently, users with Cash Management will earn an interest rate of 1.3 percent on uninvested cash, with Robinhood and its 12 partner banks charging no transfer or foreign transaction fees.

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Microsoft unveiled its new designs for the Xbox series at the Game Awards, labeling the next family of Xbox as series X. The new Xbox will closely resemble a typical tower CPU, and can be used in both vertical and horizontal positions. Microsoft has announced that the Xbox series X will operate at up to 4 times the processing power of the Xbox One X while also being more efficient.

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Harbor Air, an airline founded and headed by Greg McDougall in the city of Vancouver in Canada, successfully performed the world's first commercial flight powered fully by an electric motor rather than combustion. McDougall piloted the plane himself, which was a 62-year-old DHC-2 De Havilland Beaver seaplane with 6 passengers, and was modified to run on electric power.

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New Story, a non-profit organization, has built the world's first-ever 3D printed neighborhood in Southern Mexico. The initiative is being pushed in order to combat homelessness in some of the world's poorest communities and could revolutionize the housing crisis. The houses are built to withstand even the most rugged of conditions.

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US aviation regulators have said that the Boeing 737 jet will not be approved for flight before 2020 as the investigation into the jet's software is still ongoing. This setback could force Boeing to cut or stop all production of the aircraft and also force airlines to find replacements for their own 737 jets.

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