Tech Nuggets with the Technology

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Survives Durability Test in New Video

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra has been put to test by YouTube channel JerryRigEverything to test its scratch resistance and bendability. https://ift.tt/2TRf6tw

Interview with Vision Fund chief Rajeev Misra, who admits the fund made many investment mistakes and denies he smeared other high-ranking SoftBank executives (Alex Sherman/CNBC)

Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Interview with Vision Fund chief Rajeev Misra, who admits the fund made many investment mistakes and denies he smeared other high-ranking SoftBank executives — - Rajeev Misra, who leads SoftBank's Vision Fund, has largely been quiet as criticism has mounted.

Facebook says it will ban ads for medical face masks

Facebook is temporarily banning advertisements for medical face masks as part of an effort to prevent use of its platform to exploit people's concerns about the new coronavirus. https://ift.tt/38zrYd4 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

ET GBS: App firms see more adoption from small town India

Wattpad has around three million monthly users in India and stories by some of the most popular India writers that are resonating with Indian audience but also people from around the world. https://ift.tt/2vEc2sY https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

PhonePe says services resumed; now partners ICICI Bank

PhonePe has nowe partnered with India's second largest private sector lender ICICI Bank to act as a payment service provider in place of Yes Bank https://ift.tt/2VW24h8 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

How North Korean hackers laundered $100M in stolen Bitcoin by using hundreds of automated transactions to "peel" small amounts off the original (Mike Orcutt/MIT Technology Review)

Mike Orcutt / MIT Technology Review:
How North Korean hackers laundered $100M in stolen Bitcoin by using hundreds of automated transactions to “peel” small amounts off the original — Hackers working for Kim Jong-un have become experts at covering their tracks on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Friday, March 6, 2020

Grindr's Chinese Owner Says to Sell Dating App for $608 Million

Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech Co said on Friday that it has agreed to sell Grindr, a popular gay dating app it acquired in 2016, for about $608.5 million. https://ift.tt/3cxAVHj

Stanford cancels classes in response to novel coronavirus outbreak

Following on the heels of several major cancellations of events the past few days, including the SXSW conference in Austin and the tech conference SaaStr, Stanford University, which is located in the heart of Silicon Valley in Palo Alto, California, announced late Friday that the school would cancel in-person classes for the final two weeks of the university’s winter quarter in response to the expanding outbreak of novel coronavirus, or COVID-19.

In a statement posted by the university, Stanford’s provost Persis Drell announced that the university would cancel two weeks of classes leading up to the university’s winter quarter exams, and “to the extent feasible” migrate classes to online formats.

In addition, professors are being encouraged by the administration to find ways of delivering functionally equivalent course material through online formats, and all exams for winter quarter are expected to be delivered remotely. The policy takes effect immediately starting with classes this coming Monday, March 9.

Furthermore, the university is canceling its annual Admit Weekend, where newly-admitted prospective freshman visit the palm-lined campus and learn more about the school before making a final decision on where to head for their undergraduate degrees. Tours of the campus have also been canceled.

The university in a separate note today acknowledged that two students are in self-isolation after “possible exposure” to the novel coronavirus. The university emphasized that neither student has affirmatively tested positive for the infection at this time.

The San Francisco Bay Area has seen increasing numbers of potential exposures to the novel coronavirus. Stanford itself has been on the vanguard of responding to the global pandemic, announcing the development of its own test earlier this week to detect the infection.