PakBriefs

22/10/2021

18/05/2021

19/04/2021

SpaceX wins NASA contract to develop human landing system for returning to the moon
The winner of NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) contract award is SpaceX, which bid $2.9 billion for the privilege of developing the means by which NASA astronauts will return to the lunar surface for the first time since the Apollo program. SpaceX was in the running alongside Blue Origin and Dynetics, but reportedly undercut both those prospecti....

https://pakbriefs.com/spacex-wins-nasa-contract-to-develop-human-landing-system-for-returning-to-the-moon/

19/04/2021

Enterprise security attackers are one password away from your worst day

Ralph Pisani is president at Exabeam and has 20 years of experience in sales and channel and business development at organizations like Imperva and SecureComputing (acquired by McAfee).

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome, then one might say the cybersecurity industry is insane....

https://pakbriefs.com/enterprise-security-attackers-are-one-password-away-from-your-worst-day/

19/04/2021

A Resident Evil 4 VR remake is launching on Oculus Quest 2
Resident Evil 4 will be rereleased in virtual reality on the Oculus Quest 2 headset. Resident Evil 4’s VR remake will be a collaboration between series publisher Capcom, Oculus parent company Facebook, and the independent studio Armature. While Capcom didn’t offer much detail, some early footage shows a first-person adaptation of the classic th....

https://pakbriefs.com/a-resident-evil-4-vr-remake-is-launching-on-oculus-quest-2/

19/04/2021

Facebook brings software subscriptions to the Oculus Quest
Subscription pricing is landing on Facebook’s Oculus Store, giving VR developers another way to monetize content on Facebook’s Oculus Quest headset.
Developers will be allowed to add premium subscriptions to paid or free apps, with Facebook assumedly dragging in their standard percentage fee at the same time. Oculus and the developers on its pl....

https://pakbriefs.com/facebook-brings-software-subscriptions-to-the-oculus-quest/

17/04/2021

Grocery startup Mercato spilled years of data, but didn’t tell its customers
A security lapse at online grocery delivery startup Mercato exposed tens of thousands of customer orders, TechCrunch has learned.
A person with knowledge of the incident told TechCrunch that the incident happened in January after one of the company’s cloud storage buckets, hosted on Amazon’s cloud, was left open and unprotected.
The company fix....

https://pakbriefs.com/grocery-startup-mercato-spilled-years-of-data-but-didnt-tell-its-customers/

17/04/2021

Deepfake video app Avatarify, which process on-phone, plans digital watermark for videos
Making deepfake videos used to be hard. Now all you need is a smartphone. Avatarify, a startup that allows people to make deepfake videos directly on their phone rather than in the cloud, is soaring up the app charts after being used by celebrities such as Victoria Beckham.
However, the problem with many deepfake videos is that there is no digital ....

https://pakbriefs.com/deepfake-video-app-avatarify-which-process-on-phone-plans-digital-watermark-for-videos/

17/04/2021

Elon Musk says Starlink internet service should be ‘fully mobile’ by the end of this year

Photo credit should read Costfoto/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
SpaceX’s new Starlink satellite internet service is in a very limited beta testing period right now, but the company is already thinking ahead: as first noted by CNBC, SpaceX has filed an application with the FCC for Starlink components that would allow the service to work on....

https://pakbriefs.com/elon-musk-says-starlink-internet-service-should-be-fully-mobile-by-the-end-of-this-year/

15/04/2021

PS5 and Xbox Series X bundles are in stock at GameStop [UPDATE: Sold Out]

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Update: April 14th, 2021 3:04PM ET: Bundles for both the PS5 and Xbox Series X are now sold out at GameStop.
Due to the global electronic component shortage, it has been extremely difficult to buy any next-gen hardware. Whether you want Sony’s PS5 or Microsoft’s Xbox Series X, the restocks are far and stock....

https://pakbriefs.com/ps5-and-xbox-series-x-bundles-are-in-stock-at-gamestop-update-sold-out/

15/04/2021

Blue Origin launches and lands New Shepard rocket in key prep flight for human passengers
Blue Origin has launched its New Shepard rocket for the second time this year, and the 15th time overall. The mission profile saw the reusable spacecraft fly to suborbital space, and then return for a parachute-assisted landing at Blue Origin’s launch facility in West Texas.
This flight was a little different than its usual missions, because it i....

https://pakbriefs.com/blue-origin-launches-and-lands-new-shepard-rocket-in-key-prep-flight-for-human-passengers/

15/04/2021

Detroit man sues police for wrongfully arresting him based on facial recognition

Illustration by Alex Castro / Th
A man who was falsely accused of shoplifting has sued the Detroit Police Department for arresting him based on an incorrect facial recognition match. The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit on behalf of Robert Williams, whom it calls the first US person wrongfully arrested based on facial recognition.
T....

https://pakbriefs.com/detroit-man-sues-police-for-wrongfully-arresting-him-based-on-facial-recognition/

15/04/2021

Samsung teases ‘the most powerful’ Galaxy device is coming at its April 28th Unpacked event


Samsung has announced a new Galaxy Unpacked event set for April 28th at 10AM ET, teasing the announcement of “the most powerful Galaxy” device.
The teaser, as is typical for these invitations, isn’t too forthcoming. But given the nature of the announcement and Samsung’s usual release cycle, there are a few hints we can suss out.
First....

https://pakbriefs.com/samsung-teases-the-most-powerful-galaxy-device-is-coming-at-its-april-28th-unpacked-event/

14/04/2021

AMD now offers Ryzen 5000 processors with integrated GPUs, but you can’t buy them yet


AMD has announced a new version of its Ryzen 5000 desktop processors — the Ryzen 5000 G-Series, which (like AMD’s previous G-Series offerings) adds an integrated GPU to the company’s existing Ryzen processors.
The company is launching six new APUs today. There are three 65W chips for more powerful machines — an eight-core Ryzen 7 5700G....

https://pakbriefs.com/amd-now-offers-ryzen-5000-processors-with-integrated-gpus-but-you-cant-buy-them-yet/

14/04/2021

With a team that helped build the brain behind Alexa, HomeX raises $90M
HomeX, a home services platform for homeowners and service providers, has raised $90 million in a funding round led by New Mountain Capital.
New Mountain Capital, a New York-based investment firm with more than $30 billion in assets under management, was the only institutional investor to put money in this round alongside company executives. The co....

https://pakbriefs.com/with-a-team-that-helped-build-the-brain-behind-alexa-homex-raises-90m/

14/04/2021

Apple’s next event is April 20
Apple only dropped info about WWDC two weeks back, but the company just announced another event – this one happening much sooner. After Siri spilled the beans this morning, the company has officially confirmed its next event for April 20. Invites for its “Spring Loaded” event went out just now, sporting what appears to be a doodle drawn on an....

https://pakbriefs.com/apples-next-event-is-april-20/

13/04/2021

Netflix redesigns kids’ profiles to be more kid-friendly

Image: Netflix via TechCrunch
Netflix is redesigning its kids’ profiles to make them more visually appealing and more prominently display popular characters from kids’ shows. You can see the new look at the top of this post, which features a row of a kids’ most-watched shows right on the home screen with characters from the shows appearing....

https://pakbriefs.com/netflix-redesigns-kids-profiles-to-be-more-kid-friendly/

13/04/2021

Mobvoi’s TicWatch GTH has an Apple Watch look and a skin temperature sensor for $79.99

Image: Mobvoi
Mobvoi is starting to sell the TicWatch GTH today, a $79.99 fitness wearable that features sensors for skin temperature and blood oxygen that are typically reserved for more expensive watches. Mobvoi has generally focused on Wear OS devices in the past, providing a variety of options for Google’s troubled wearable operating sy....

https://pakbriefs.com/mobvois-ticwatch-gth-has-an-apple-watch-look-and-a-skin-temperature-sensor-for-79-99/

13/04/2021

Gigabyte is announcing three gaming monitors with HDMI 2.1 and TV sizes

Image: Gigabyte
Gigabyte has announced three new 4K gaming monitors for its Aorus brand, each features HDMI 2.1, the somewhat hard-to-find display connector that allows for high refresh rate gaming at 4K (via TweakTown). Besides having some of the best tech available in TVs or monitors, all three have desk-dominating sizes. According to a pres....

https://pakbriefs.com/gigabyte-is-announcing-three-gaming-monitors-with-hdmi-2-1-and-tv-sizes/

13/04/2021

Risk startup LogicGate confirms data breach
Risk and compliance startup LogicGate has confirmed a data breach. But unless you’re a customer, you probably didn’t hear about it.
An email sent by LogicGate to customers earlier this month said on February 23 an unauthorized third party obtained credentials to its Amazon Web Services-hosted cloud storage servers storing customer backup files ....

https://pakbriefs.com/risk-startup-logicgate-confirms-data-breach/

13/04/2021

JXL turns Jira into spreadsheets
Atlassian’s Jira is an extremely powerful issue tracking and project management tool, but it’s not the world’s most intuitive piece of software either. Spreadsheets, on the other hand, are pretty much the de facto standard for managing virtually anything in a business. It’s maybe no surprise then that there are already a couple of tools on ....

https://pakbriefs.com/jxl-turns-jira-into-spreadsheets/

13/04/2021

Bloomscape’s Justin Mast explains how he built a thriving garden startup in Detroit
Justin Mast has a simple reason for starting his plant retail startup Bloomscape in Detroit.
“This is home,” he told me. “This is where I have a really strong network and I knew I’d be able to find a lot of support.”
Mast didn’t grow up in Detroit proper, but he’s from Grand Rapids, Michigan’s second largest city. He recalled a week....

https://pakbriefs.com/bloomscapes-justin-mast-explains-how-he-built-a-thriving-garden-startup-in-detroit/

13/04/2021

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to deliver an Astrobotic lander and NASA water-hunting rover to the Moon in 2023
SpaceX is set to send a payload to the Moon in 2023, using its larger (and infrequently used) Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. The mission will fly a lander built by space startup Astrobotic, which itself will be carrying NASA’s VIPER, or Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (this is the agency that loves torturing language to come up with....

https://pakbriefs.com/spacexs-falcon-heavy-rocket-to-deliver-an-astrobotic-lander-and-nasa-water-hunting-rover-to-the-moon-in-2023/

13/04/2021

Clubhouse rolls out payments to over 60K creators following initial test
Clubhouse is rapidly expanding access to payments, its first revenue-generating feature for creators, since its launch into testing earlier this month. At the beginning of April, Clubhouse said it would give a “small test group” of creators the ability to accept payments from their fans and supporters through the social audio app. These donatio....

https://pakbriefs.com/clubhouse-rolls-out-payments-to-over-60k-creators-following-initial-test/

06/02/2021

Go read this New York Times investigation of the location tracking data of the Capitol rioters


You’re being tracked — around the web, sure, but also in real life: the apps on your smartphone are constantly feeding data into the digital advertising market, where it’s bought and sold by hedge funds, financial institutions, and marketers. A new report in The New York Times underscores the horrifying implications of the system, featuri....

https://pakbriefs.com/go-read-this-new-york-times-investigation-of-the-location-tracking-data-of-the-capitol-rioters/

06/02/2021

Robinhood has stopped limiting GameStop shares

Illustrations by Alex Castro / The Verge
Robinhood has finally lifted all the restrictions on WallStreetBets-fueled stocks like GameStop and AMC, according to a report on Friday from Reuters. The company currently lists no limits on its support document entitled “Changes due to ongoing market volatility,” whereas last week, there were 50-plus....

https://pakbriefs.com/robinhood-has-stopped-limiting-gamestop-shares/

06/02/2021

Destruction AllStars no longer turns on voice chat by default, thanks to new hotfix

Characters from Destruction AllStars. | Image: Sony
Sony released the car-smashing game Destruction AllStars exclusively for the PlayStation 5 on Tuesday, but it shipped with one very annoying feature: voice chat in multiplayer matches was turned on by default, meaning you could be subject to the unfiltered comments and background noise from your....

https://pakbriefs.com/destruction-allstars-no-longer-turns-on-voice-chat-by-default-thanks-to-new-hotfix/

06/02/2021

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake delayed indefinitely


We already knew a remake for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was in the works, and it was supposed to come out next month. But if you are waiting to play this long-awaited remake, you will have to wait a little while longer as the game has been delayed indefinitely, Ubisoft announced on Twitter today.
Ubisoft Pune, the India-based studio t....

https://pakbriefs.com/prince-of-persia-the-sands-of-time-remake-delayed-indefinitely/

06/02/2021

Patient names and colonoscopy results from US hospitals posted by hackers to the dark web

Illustration by Ana Kova
Patients of two US hospital chains had their names, birthdays, and colonoscopy results posted on the dark web after a hack, reported NBC News. The tens of thousands of files released were from patients at Leon Medical Centers in Miami and Nocona General Hospital in Texas.
The patient records posted in this hack also inclu....

https://pakbriefs.com/patient-names-and-colonoscopy-results-from-us-hospitals-posted-by-hackers-to-the-dark-web/

06/02/2021

Microsoft suspends donations for politicians who attempted to overturn the 2020 election

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Microsoft has announced that it will suspend all donations for the upcoming 2022 election cycle for any members of Congress, state officials, and organizations that voted to object to the certification of electors in the 2020 election or supported attempting to overturn the election.
The company temporaril....

https://pakbriefs.com/microsoft-suspends-donations-for-politicians-who-attempted-to-overturn-the-2020-election/

05/02/2021

Justice Department closes criminal probe of Ford emissions testing

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has closed a nearly two-year investigation into the process Ford uses to evaluate the emissions of its vehicles, the automaker disclosed in a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Ford says it “cooperated fully” with the probe, but no action was ta....

https://pakbriefs.com/justice-department-closes-criminal-probe-of-ford-emissions-testing/

05/02/2021

How to install Apple’s watchOS 7 and iOS 14 betas so you can unlock your phone with your watch


Apple’s iOS 14.5 beta is out, and with it comes the ability to have your Apple Watch unlock your Face ID-protected phone if you happen to be wearing a mask. If you really want this feature right now, you’ll have to download the latest iOS and watchOS betas — something that does come with at least a little risk, as it’s unfinished softwa....

https://pakbriefs.com/how-to-install-apples-watchos-7-and-ios-14-betas-so-you-can-unlock-your-phone-with-your-watch/

05/02/2021

Three countries are due to reach Mars in the next two weeks

A fleet of spacecraft from three countries will reach Mars in February.
A small fleet of spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates, China, and the United States will reach Mars this month after launching from Earth last year. The march to the Red Planet marks a marathon of firsts: it’s the UAE’s first foray into deep space, China’s first ind....

https://pakbriefs.com/three-countries-are-due-to-reach-mars-in-the-next-two-weeks/

05/02/2021

The next victim of the global microchip shortage is Ford’s most profitable truck, the F-150


Many companies have had to scale back car production due to a global computer chip shortage, but CNBC is reporting that the shortages are finally hitting America’s most popular vehicle: the Ford F-150. According to the report, Ford is temporarily cutting the number of shifts in its truck production plants in half: its Dearborn, Michigan, fact....

https://pakbriefs.com/the-next-victim-of-the-global-microchip-shortage-is-fords-most-profitable-truck-the-f-150/

05/02/2021

Two Google engineers quit over firing of ethical AI leader Timnit Gebru

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Two Google engineers have quit over the treatment of Timnit Gebru, former co-lead of the ethical AI team. David Baker, an engineering director, said Gebru’s dismissal “extinguished” his desire to remain at the company. Vinesh Kannan, a software engineer, said he was leaving because Gebru and April Chr....

https://pakbriefs.com/two-google-engineers-quit-over-firing-of-ethical-ai-leader-timnit-gebru/

05/02/2021

Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter team up to crack down on hackers who steal rare usernames

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Instagram has disabled hundreds of accounts that were stolen as part of online hacking operations designed to gain access to and sell rare and coveted usernames, the company tells The Verge. Both TikTok and Twitter also took action on some of the accounts belonging to the same hackers, reports journalist an....

https://pakbriefs.com/instagram-tiktok-and-twitter-team-up-to-crack-down-on-hackers-who-steal-rare-usernames/

05/02/2021

Genetic testing firm 23andMe is going public via a S**C backed by Richard Branson

Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
Home DNA-testing company 23andMe will go public via special purpose acquisition company (S**C) backed by Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, the companies announced Thursday.
“We have always believed that healthcare needs to be driven by the consumer, and we have a huge opportunity to help personal....

https://pakbriefs.com/genetic-testing-firm-23andme-is-going-public-via-a-spac-backed-by-richard-branson/

05/02/2021

Amazon reportedly requiring 10-hour overnight shifts for some workers

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Amazon recently told workers at its in DCH1 warehouse in Chicago they had to take 10-hour overnight shifts at a new warehouse or risk losing their jobs, according to a new report from Motherboard.
The shifts, known as “megacycle” shifts, typically begin around 1AM and end around lunchtime. The DCH1 war....

https://pakbriefs.com/amazon-reportedly-requiring-10-hour-overnight-shifts-for-some-workers/