Bits: daily tech news bulletin

Manipulating antimatter with a Canadian laser at CERN


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Facebook is making a number of significant changes to the core experience of using the social network, including to how users control comments on posts to making it easier to change your News Feed to a chronological instead of algorithmic list. The change to comments allows users to limit who can comment on a public post, and comes following a 2019 Australian court decision that found news outlets liable for comments on their pages. Meanwhile, a new 'Most Recent' option will soon appear at the top of the News Feed on mobile devices to allow users to switch from the algorithmic system that decides on what to show based on popularity and past engagement with posts and pages.



The 2020 AM Turing Award winners have been announced, with Alfred Aho and Jeffrey Ullman sharing the prize for their pioneering collaborative work developing computer compilers. The award has led to wide praise, with the pairs work since the 1960s leading to the evolution of computer programming languages. The award has become known as akin to a Nobel Prize of the computing industry.



Apple will no longer make Siri default to a female voice, with the latest beta version of iOS 14.5 offering every user a choice for which version of the voice they would prefer to use – without offering a default option during the process. Two new Siri voices are also being added to the options, which already includes 38 voices based on Apple's Neural text to speech technology.



New research from Trinity College Dublin has revealed the both Apple and Google transmit telemetry data about a smartphone even if the user has explicitly opted out of such data sharing. The research found that data is sent every 4.5 minutes, and in the first 10 minutes of starting up a Pixel handset 1MB of data is sent to Google while 42KB of iPhone data is sent to Apple. While sitting idle, similar volumes of data are sent back every 12 hours. Both Google and Apple dispute the findings as misunderstanding what the data is for.



Popular free-to-use stock image library Unsplash has been acquired by Getty Images. Getty Images is one of the world's most prominent image licensing company, and owns a wide range of photo library brands. Unsplash promises it will remain free with unchanged photographic licensing.



In science, researchers at CERN have achieved the first laser-based manipulation of antimatter, a major breakthrough in the ongoing effort to delve deeper into antimatter science. A Canadian laser technology allowed the research team to cool an antimatter sample to near absolute zero. The work is set to lead to the creation of longer lasting antimatter investigations and the potential for creating the first antimatter molecules by joining atoms using laser manipulation.



In entertainment, for those upset by the cancellation of The Dark Crystal Netflix series after just one season, a new Dark Crystal is preparing to launch – this time as a ballet at London's Royal Opera House by Wayne McGregor.



Finally, yesterday we mentioned Voltswagen, and at the time of recording VW was adamant it was not a joke. A few hours later they admitted they had lied to a number of major news outlets in their assertion the name change was legitimate and that it was really meant as an April fools joke - just a few days early. Mmmm... no thanks, car company, have fun rebuilding trust once again after that old diesel debacle.


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Bits: daily tech news bulletinBy Byteside