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Submission + - UN Food Programme's $6.6 Billion Executive Summary of Plan to End World Hunger (cnn.com)

Submitted by thomst
thomst writes: UN Food Programme Director (and former Republican governor of South Carolina) David Beasley tweeted a link to what his agency is calling an Executive Summary of its plan to use $6.6 Billion of Elon Musk's money to eradicate hunger in areas of the world where it presents the greatest threat to human life. CNN Business's Jackie Wattles reports on the tweet in a story that lays out the background of Beasley's original challenge to Musk and other multi-billionaires to contribute 2% of their wealth to eradicate world hunger.

The CNN business report recounts the history of the public dialogue between Musk and Beasley, who have engaged in a Twitter exchange on the subject for more than two weeks now. The back-and-forth began with Musk's tweet (in response to an interview CNN conducted with the WFP Director on November 1, 2021, in which Beasley made a direct, personal plea to Musk to donate 2% of his wealth to help "end world hunger") challenging the WFP to detail how his $6-Billion-plus donation would be used, that would have to include an "open source" accounting scheme that would enable any interested party to track exactly where the money went.

Submission + - Star Trek Discovery fans angry as new season is pulled days before launch (bbc.com) 2

Submitted by NewtonsLaw
NewtonsLaw writes: Star Trek fans have been left livid after the global release of the new season of spin-off show Discovery was pulled days before its planned launch.

The fourth season of the sci-fi series had been due to launch outside North America on Netflix on Friday.

However, Netflix has lost the global rights to Paramount, which will now put the show on its own streaming service.

Viewers outside the US and Canada must wait until Paramount+ launches in 20 countries including the UK next year.

A statement said it would be available in early 2022, but an exact date and plans for the rest of the world have not been announced

Submission + - Black Holes May Gain Mass From the Expansion of the Universe Itself (scitechdaily.com)

Submitted by nickwinlund77
nickwinlund77 writes: Since the first observation of merging black holes by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in 2015, astronomers have been repeatedly surprised by their large masses. Though they emit no light, black hole mergers are observed through their emission of gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of spacetime that were predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Physicists originally expected that black holes would have masses less than about 40 times that of the Sun, because merging black holes arise from massive stars, which can’t hold themselves together if they get too big.

The LIGO and Virgo observatories, however, have found many black holes with masses greater than that of 50 suns, with some as massive as 100 suns. Numerous formation scenarios have been proposed to produce such large black holes, but no single scenario has been able to explain the diversity of black hole mergers observed so far, and there is no agreement on which combination of formation scenarios is physically viable. This new study, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, is the first to show that both large and small black hole masses can result from a single pathway, wherein the black holes gain mass from the expansion of the universe itself.

Astronomers typically model black holes inside a universe that cannot expand. “It’s an assumption that simplifies Einstein’s equations because a universe that doesn’t grow has much less to keep track of,” said Kevin Croker, a professor at the UH Mnoa Department of Physics and Astronomy. “There is a trade-off though: predictions may only be reasonable for a limited amount of time.”

Because the individual events detectable by LIGO—Virgo only last a few seconds, when analyzing any single event, this simplification is sensible. But these same mergers are potentially billions of years in the making. During the time between the formation of a pair of black holes and their eventual merger, the universe grows profoundly. If the more subtle aspects of Einstein’s theory are carefully considered, then a startling possibility emerges: the masses of black holes could grow in lockstep with the universe, a phenomenon that Croker and his team call cosmological coupling.

Submission + - Ring cancels desktop Apps for Windows & Mac. Web App Chrome/Edge only. (ring.com)

Submitted by seoras
seoras writes: Ring has just announced to users of its popular desktop apps for Windows and Mac that "On October 15, 2021, the Ring desktop app for Windows and Mac will be discontinued. All users will be permanently logged out of the Ring — Always Home desktop app".
They then go on to stay that "Key features from the desktop app are available on ring.com, including Live View and Browser Notifications (coming soon)."
What they don't tell you on that support page announcement is that their browser Live View is only available on Chrome and Edge.
The 2 browsers that aren't actively working to block tracking.
If you use Safari, Firefox or any other browser you have no option but to use Chrome or Edge on the desktop or revert to your mobile Ring app.
A cynical attempt to push more users onto web browsers that enable Amazon and Google to better track them?

Submission + - Poll: What's Your Favorite Tech Company? 9

Submitted by Thelasko
Thelasko writes: If you have to pick one, what is your favorite tech company?
Apple Inc.
Alphabet Inc.
Facebook
Microsoft
Amazon
Other (in comments. "I hate them all" isn't an answer)

Submission + - SPAM: OnlyFans to Block Sexually Explicit Videos Starting in October

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: OnlyFans is getting out of the pornography business. The company will prohibit users from posting any sexually explicit conduct, starting in October. Creators will still be allowed to post nude photos and videos, provided they’re consistent with OnlyFans’ policy, the company said Thursday. The changes are needed because of mounting pressure from banking partners and payment providers, according to the company. “In order to ensure the long-term sustainability of our platform, and the continue to host an inclusive community of creators and fans, we must evolve our content guidelines,” OnlyFans said.

OnlyFans has attracted more than 130 million users by giving online creators a platform to charge their fans for photos and videos. Many of its most-popular creators post nude photos and videos, and it has been praised for giving sex workers a safer place to do their jobs. But sex work still has a stigma. And OnlyFans is trying to raise money from outside investors at a valuation of more than $1 billion. The company handled more than $2 billion in sales last year, and is on pace to more than double that this year. It keeps 20% of that figure.
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