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- GitHub Just Buried Open Source in a Mountain (Literally)
GitHub archived a 21TB snapshot of public code into an Arctic vault meant to survive 1,000 years.
- How to Catch Comet NEOWISE Before It's Gone
A naked-eye comet is in our morning sky right now, and it won't be back for about 6,800 years — here's how to see it.
- Budget Phones Are Carrying Android Through the Pandemic
Realme's C-series and Samsung's Galaxy M01 Core show how cheap Android hardware is keeping volumes up while flagship demand softens.
- H.266/VVC Is Officially Finalized — Half the Bitrate, Same Quality
The Fraunhofer HHI-led consortium finalized the H.266/VVC video codec, targeting roughly half the bitrate of HEVC at equal quality.
- Rocket Lab's Electron Hits Its First Snag After 12 Straight Wins
An upper-stage electrical fault destroyed Electron's payload on July 4, ending Rocket Lab's 12-launch streak of successes.
- C++20 Is Nearly Done — What Developers Get This Summer
C++20 is heading toward finalization this summer with concepts, modules, coroutines, and the spaceship operator in tow.
- Comet NEOWISE Just Survived Its Closest Brush With the Sun
Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) reached perihelion on July 3, made it through intact, and is shaping up to be the best naked-eye comet in over two decades.
- Ampere vs. Big Navi: The Next-Gen GPU Rumor War Heats Up
Fresh leaks on Nvidia's RTX 3000 series and AMD's Big Navi suggest the biggest GPU generational leap in years is coming this fall.
- Stop Hate for Profit: The Facebook Ad Boycott Starts Today
The Stop Hate for Profit campaign kicks off July 1, with hundreds of advertisers pausing Facebook and Instagram spend over the platform's handling of hate speech.
- SpaceX Closes June With a Space Force Launch and a Starship Tank Test
SpaceX launched its first Space Force mission with a GPS III satellite while Starship SN5 passed a cryo proof test in Texas.
- India Pulls the Plug on TikTok and 58 Other Chinese Apps
India banned TikTok, UC Browser, WeChat, Helo and 55 other Chinese apps tonight, citing national security in the wake of the Galwan Valley clash.
- The GPT-3 Hype Cycle Kicks Into Gear
Two weeks into OpenAI's GPT-3 API waitlist, demos are flooding timelines and the AGI debate is back with a vengeance.
- Sizing Up the Next-Gen Console Fight So Far
Comparing what's public about PS5 and Xbox Series X two weeks after Sony's reveal, with Microsoft's own showcase still a month out.
- Astronauts Step Outside to Swap Batteries on the ISS
Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken conducted a spacewalk to replace nickel-hydrogen batteries with newer lithium-ion units on the ISS truss.
- TypeScript Is Quietly Eating JavaScript
Static typing keeps climbing developer surveys as Angular, React, and Vue projects default to TypeScript to catch bugs before production.
- Starship SN5 Rolls Out to the Pad in Boca Chica
SpaceX's Starship SN5 prototype heads to the test stand, about a month after SN4 was destroyed in a static-fire explosion.
- Microsoft Pulls the Plug on Mixer, Hands Streamers to Facebook Gaming
Microsoft is shutting down Mixer and pushing its streamers and viewers toward a new partnership with Facebook Gaming.
- Apple Is Putting Its Own Chips in the Mac
At WWDC 2020, Apple confirmed the Mac will move from Intel to its own ARM-based Apple Silicon, starting this year.
- A Solstice Stargazing Guide for Summer 2020
Short nights, a brightening comet, and two giant planets nearing opposition make this the best week of the year to look up.
- The Next Wave of Flagship Phone Chips Is Already Warming Up
A faster Snapdragon 865 refresh and a wider spread of 5G-capable chips look set to reshape flagship and mid-range phones later in 2020.
- XENON1T Sees a Mystery Bump in Its Hunt for Dark Matter
Physicists at Gran Sasso report 53 unexplained low-energy events, teasing solar axions or tritium contamination as possible causes.
- Zoom Reverses Course, Will Encrypt Free Calls Too
Zoom says free users will get end-to-end encryption after all, with phone verification required and beta testing starting in July.
- Fortnite's Splashdown Update Floods the Chapter 2 Map
Epic Games launches Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 3 today, submerging much of the island and adding boats, sharks, and swimming.
- Proxima b Is Real: Our Nearest Neighboring Planet Gets Confirmed
ESPRESSO data from ESO's VLT confirms Proxima b, an Earth-sized planet orbiting the closest star to the Sun.
- AMD Teases 'Big Navi' as Nvidia Preps Ampere for a Second-Half Showdown
Lisa Su reaffirms AMD's high-end RDNA2 'Big Navi' GPU is coming in 2020, setting up a collision with Nvidia's next-gen Ampere cards.
- GitHub Says Goodbye to 'Master' as the Default Branch Name
GitHub will make 'main' the default branch name for new repos, part of a wider industry move away from slavery-linked terminology.
- SpaceX Ties a Starlink Launch to a Rideshare Twist
SpaceX's ninth Starlink batch shared its Falcon 9 ride with Planet's Earth-imaging satellites, spotlighting a growing rideshare side business.
- OpenAI Puts GPT-3 Behind an API, Not an Open Door
OpenAI is letting developers apply for API access to GPT-3, its 175-billion-parameter language model, without releasing the weights.
- Sony Finally Shows Us the PS5, and It's a Weird-Looking Beast
Sony's delayed 'Future of Gaming' showcase revealed the PS5's design and 26 games, including Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
- Comet NEOWISE is quietly becoming one to watch
C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is brightening ahead of its July 3 perihelion and could be the best Northern Hemisphere comet since Hale-Bopp.