Technology

NBC News reports: The U.S. Space Force launched a secret mission space plane into the stars Sunday morning, dedicating the flight to front-line workers and victims during the coronavirus pandemic. A rocket was used to carry the X-37B, a remote-operated space plane that uses solar power, which will orbit the Earth while carrying experiments into space. The Cape Canaveral launch …

Reuters reports: Electric car maker Tesla plans to introduce a new low-cost, long-life battery in its Model 3 sedan in China later this year or early next that it expects will bring the cost of electric vehicles in line with gasoline models, and allow EV batteries to have second and third lives in the electric power grid. For months, Tesla …

BGR reports: Apple and Google have developed a standard API that authorities can use to create coronavirus contact tracing apps for specific countries or communities. These apps rely on a phone’s Bluetooth connectivity to ping nearby devices and create local records of that handshake. When one of those users reports they have been diagnosed COVID-19 positive, a database will record …

CNET reports: Google today said it’s making its teleconferencing service, called Google Meet, free to consumers. The move takes aim at Zoom, the rival video chat service that’s become a household name during the stay-at-home era spurred by the novel coronavirus. Previously, Meet was only available to paying customers of G Suite, Google’s line of enterprise apps that includes Gmail, …

Some relatively normal but still virus-related news: Apple announced a new, cheaper iPhone model on Wednesday, marking the first time it has launched a new phone without one of its glitzy in-person events as most of the country remains under shelter in place orders due to the coronavirus pandemic. The new, second-generation iPhone SE carries the same name as the …

The New York Times reports: In one of the most far-ranging attempts to halt the spread of the coronavirus, Apple and Google said they were building software into smartphones that would tell people if they were in recent contact with someone who was infected with the virus. The technology giants said they were teaming up to release the tool within …

CBNC reports: iPhone users who are wondering whether they have COVID-19 can now turn to Siri. Apple has updated its voice assistant to provide users with a step-by-step questionnaire if they ask variations of, “Hey Siri, do I have the coronavirus?” The update appears to have been made on Saturday, when users first started noticing it. Siri will ask users …

CNN reports: The European Union is urging Netflix and other streaming platforms to stop showing video in high definition to prevent the internet from breaking under the strain of unprecedented usage due to the coronavirus pandemic. With so many countries on forced lockdowns to fight the spread of the virus, hundreds of millions working from home and even more children …

The Verge reports: Facebook is opening up about the behind-the-scenes tools it uses to combat fake account creation on its platforms, and the company says it has a new artificial intelligence-powered method known as Deep Entity Classification (DEC) that’s proved especially effective. DEC is a machine learning model that doesn’t just take into account the activity of the suspect account, …

Buzzfeed News reports: On Wednesday, Twitter will begin testing a feature, called “Fleets,” that will allow you to post photos, videos, and text that disappear after a short period of time. If it sounds familiar, that’s because it’s nothing other than the long-awaited debut of stories on the social platform. When Snapchat invented stories in 2013, people loved the way …

The Verge reports: Apple has tentatively agreed to a $500 million settlement after admitting to slowing down older phones. The deal would provide small payouts for many iPhone owners in the US, plus greater compensation for named class members and attorneys. It covers people who bought any product in the iPhone 6 and 7 lineup — which Apple secretly throttled …

Variety reports: WhatsApp now has more than 2 billion users globally, according to Facebook — and the company says it “will not compromise” on the messaging app’s end-to-end encryption, despite warnings from law enforcement officials. WhatsApp, which Facebook acquired for $19 billion in 2014, uses strong crypto to keep information sent over the service private, “helping protect you from hackers …

The Associated Press reports: YouTube is making clear there will be no “birtherism” on its platform during this year’s U.S. presidential election. Also banned: Election-related “deepfake” videos and anything that aims to mislead viewers about voting procedures and how to participate in the 2020 census. The Google-owned video service clarified its rules ahead of the Iowa caucuses Monday. The company …

The New York Post reports: Chinese authorities are taking coronavirus surveillance to new heights — using drones to scold citizens who go outside without face masks. “Yes, auntie, this is the drone speaking to you. You shouldn’t walk about without wearing a mask,” says the caption of a video posted Friday on Twitter by the Global Times, the English-language newspaper …

Engadget reports: Delivery giant UPS has ordered 10,000 electric trucks from Arrival, a technology company based in the UK. Some of the vehicles will be trialed in London and Paris later this year, building on a similar experiment that was run by the two companies in 2018. The pair then hope to deploy the trucks across Europe and North America …

Axios reports: Tinder will debut a feature later this month that will allow users to hit a panic button if they feel physically unsafe on a date gone wrong, the Wall Street Journal reports. Why it matters: Critics have previously called out Tinder for not doing more to ensure the safety of users and filtering out possibly dangerous users, especially …

TechCrunch reports: Cruise unveiled Tuesday evening a “production ready” driverless vehicle called Origin, the product of a multi-year collaboration with parent company GM and investor Honda that is designed for a ride-sharing service. The shuttle-like vehicle — branded with Cruise’s trademark orange and black colors — has no steering wheel or pedals and is designed to travel at highway speeds. …

CNBC reports: Technology giant Amazon is working to allow customers to connect their credit card information to their hands, so that they can scan for purchases with their palms at checkout areas in physical stores. While Amazon’s plan is in the early stages, the company has reportedly begun working with Visa on testing out the terminals, and has discussed the …

The New York Times reports: Popular dating services like Grindr, OkCupid and Tinder are spreading user information like dating choices and precise location to advertising and marketing companies in ways that may violate privacy laws, according to a new report that examined some of the world’s most downloaded Android apps. Grindr, the world’s most popular gay dating app, transmitted user-tracking …

The Associated Press reports: The National Security Agency has discovered a major security flaw in Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system that could allow hackers to intercept seemingly secure communications. But rather than exploit the flaw for its own intelligence needs, the NSA tipped off Microsoft so that it can fix the system for everyone. Microsoft released a free software patch …