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The Land Bridge You’ve Never Heard Of

For many of us, when we think of land bridges, we tend to think of the Bering Land Bridge (actually more of a swamp), which ancient humans traversed to reach North America from modern-day Siberia during the last Ice Age. But there may have been another, crucial stretch of land that aided early human migration—this time, far across the continent, on the Anatolian coast. That’s the major new finding from a team of Turkish archeologists who have uncovered over 100 stone artifacts from ten differen

Google and PayPal team up on agentic commerce

In Brief PayPal announced on Wednesday a new multi-year partnership with Google that will see the payments giant using Google’s AI technology to create new AI-powered shopping experiences. PayPal’s solutions, meanwhile, will be integrated across Google’s products, and PayPal will work with Google Cloud on hosting and improving its technology infrastructure. The companies did not detail what specific types of agentic shopping experiences they would work together to create, but said Google would

Terra Oleo’s oil-producing microbes could replace destructive palm oil plantations

When most kids rebel against their families, they might become a ski bum, join a band, or go to art school. Shen Ming Lee decided to start a company. “I grew up in the conventional palm oil industry,” Lee told TechCrunch. “My family’s business is one of the top producers in the palm oil space. And so I grew up a little bit — I have to admit —ashamed of what my family does.” Palm oil has come to dominate the market for vegetable oils, with the raw ingredient and its derivatives appearing in eve

Topics: lee oil oleo palm produce

Wyze's New Palm Lock Recognizes the Veins in Your Hand

Wyze's latest home security product locks your home and turns you into the key. The Palm Lock features hand-scanning biometric technology that can read the unique pattern of veins underneath your skin to unlock the door. The new smart lock mechanism works by having homeowners hover their hand in front of the reader to disengage the Palm Lock. Wyze says this technology will be quicker to use than fingerprint scanners. Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET a

Topics: door lock palm says wyze

Wyze’s new palm-scanning door lock has a second, backup battery

is a senior reporter who’s been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2006, but has loved all things electronic since he was a kid. Wyze has announced its first smart door lock that can be opened by simply hovering your open hand over it. The Wyze Palm Lock is launching today for $129.98 making it more affordable than similar palm-scanning smart locks including the $359.99 Philips Smart Deadbolt that launched last year. But your palm isn’t the only way to unlock it. If it’s t

Youth Group in Nepal Overthrows Government, Elects New Leader via Discord Poll

Nepal's government collapsed this week following an ill-advised attempt to ban social media outright. The lifting of the social media ban on Monday was unable to quell a surge in anger. Youth-led groups of disaffected "Gen Z" activists clashed with police in the streets of the capital, Kathmandu, protesting growing wealth inequality and government corruption. Over 50 people were killed in the clashes as angry crowds set government buildings ablaze, forcing prime minister Sharma Oli to resign o

Check Your Bank Accounts, You Might Spot a Deposit From a Facebook Lawsuit

Read your email carefully this week: On Monday morning, I received an email from PayPal with the enticing subject line, "Your Facebook Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation Settlement Payment." And no, it wasn't a scam. I opened it to find my PayPal account had been sent $37.55 as my share of Facebook's $725 million privacy settlement. Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source. I was glad I spotted the email, because the money w

PayPal adds new one-to-one payment links that will soon support crypto

PayPal is introducing a new way for people to send money to one another through peer-to-peer (p2p) payments made via personalized, one-time links. The system, called PayPal Links, complements the company’s existing feature called PayPal Me, which will continue to exist as a way to share your profile information and make it easier to get found and paid. The company explains that PayPal Me links are not payment requests tied to a specific amount — at least until the receiver inputs how much they

PayPal Links lets you send and receive money much faster now - even crypto

Silas Stein/picture alliance via Getty Images Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways PayPal Links lets you send and request money with other PayPal users. You can share the payment link in an email, direct message, or text. PayPal is also adding cryptocurrency as a payment method. Move over, Zelle. Watch out, CashApp. PayPal has unveiled a new type of peer-to-peer payment method that promises to be easier and simpler than other options. On Monday, the

Benioff says he's 'inspired' by Palantir, but takes another jab at its prices

Marc Benioff is keeping an eye on Palantir . The co-founder and CEO of sales and customer service management software company Salesforce is well aware that investors are betting big on Palantir, which offers data management software to businesses and government agencies. "Oh my gosh. I am so inspired by that company," Benioff told CNBC's Morgan Brennan in a Tuesday interview at Goldman Sachs ' Communacopia+Technology conference in San Francisco. "I mean, not just because they have 100 times, y

How Palantir is mapping the nation’s data

When the U.S. government signs contracts with private technology companies, the fine print rarely reaches the public. Palantir Technologies, however, has attracted more and more attention over the past decade because of the size and scope of its contracts with the government. Palantir’s two main platforms are Foundry and Gotham. Each does different things. Foundry is used by corporations in the private sector to help with global operations. Gotham is marketed as an “operating system for global

Mapping to the PICO-8 palette, perceptually

Mapping to the PICO-8 palette, perceptually Given a palette and an image, how would you map each pixel to a color in the palette? In this article we’ll investigate how an advanced perceptual color space (CAM16-UCS) compares to simpler alternatives. For this experiment I chose a somewhat strange cropped still from the Big Buck Bunny short and the PICO-8 fantasy console’s 16-color palette: A simple way to map pixels to palette colors is to compute the Euclidean distance between each pixel and p

Smart ring maker Oura’s CEO addresses recent backlash, says future is a ‘cloud of wearables’

Oura CEO Tom Hale is trying to set the record straight about the smart ring maker’s partnership with the Department of Defense (DoD) and data miner Palantir, which is used by defense, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies in the United States and elsewhere. At the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference on Monday, Hale’s interview started off with a bang with his outright denial that the company was sharing user data with the government. “There was a lot of misinformation about this,” he said,

Nepal lifts social media ban after 19 people were killed during protests

Nepal's government has lifted its ban on social media apps including Facebook and X after at least 19 people were killed yesterday during protests, The Guardian reported. "We have withdrawn the shutdown of the social media. They are working now," said communications minister Prithvi Subba Gurung. In a new development, Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli has resigned due to the unrest, his aide told Reuters. Last week, the government announced it was blocking 26 social media platforms due to no

Nepal reverses social media ban as protests turn deadly

Nepal has made a dramatic U-turn, reversing a social media ban imposed last week after the decision sparked nationwide “Gen Z” protests that reportedly left at least 19 people dead. The ban, which blocked access to 26 platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X, was imposed following an August 25 directive requiring foreign social media companies to register their operations in Nepal and appoint a local contact within seven days. When most platforms failed to comply by the deadline,

Our favorite pocket e-reader is about to get two huge upgrades, and I took an early look

Stephen Schenck / Android Authority This year at IFA 2025 in Berlin, hundreds of brands are showing off their latest products, highlighting recent additions to their lineups and announcing new gear. But there’s also a lot of tech that’s not quite ready for prime time, and isn’t being publicly exhibited. I visited the BOOX booth today hoping to take another look at its great e-readers like the Palma 2, but ended up getting a surprise early preview of the next generation of Palma, with a couple m

Topics: boox color like new palma

Nepal Bans 26 Social Media Platforms, Including Facebook and YouTube

Nepal’s government has banned dozens of social media platforms after they failed to comply with new registration requirements, disrupting essential communication and raising concerns over free speech. The 26 blocked platforms include messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and WeChat, as well as websites like YouTube and LinkedIn. The ban, which went into effect on Thursday after a one-week ultimatum to the social media companies expired, has caused confusion across the country. It h

SQL needed structure

Published 2025-09-04 Here are two pages from the internet movie database: There are two things to note about these pages. The data on the page is presented in a hierarchichal structure. The movie page contains a director, a list of genres, a list of actors, and each actor in the list contains a list of characters they played in the movie. You can't sensibly fit all of this into a single flat structure like a relation. The order of the hierarchy isn't the same on both pages. On one page we hav

We saw the next Boox Palma and… is that a color E Ink screen and cellular connectivity?

is a senior reporter who’s been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2006, but has loved all things electronic since he was a kid. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. It wasn’t on public display at its IFA 2025 booth, but Boox gave The Verge’s Jess Weatherbed a brief but early look at its next Palma smartphone-sized e-reader. The company wasn’t yet willing to divulge any technical specs. Still, the new Palma appears to fea

Nepal blocks most social media sites for failing to register with the government

The government of Nepal is blocking commonly used social platforms including Facebook, X, Instagram, WeChat, Reddit and YouTube due to noncompliance with a new law requiring them to register with the government, The Associated Press reported. Five platforms including TikTok and Viber that did register in the country were exempted from the ban. Social media companies were asked to provide a local contact, grievance handler and person responsible for self-regulation to avoid a shutdown and many a

Nepal moves to block Facebook, X, YouTube and others

The restrictions come after the social media giants failed to meet state registration requirements, says government. Nepal’s government has said it will shut off access to major social media platforms, including Facebook and X, after they failed to comply with authorities’ registration requirements. The move, announced on Thursday, is part of what the government says is an effort to curb online hate, rumours and cybercrime. Companies were given a deadline of Wednesday to register with the Min

SQL Needed Structure

Published 2025-09-04 Here are two pages from the internet movie database: There are two things to note about these pages. The data on the page is presented in a hierarchichal structure. The movie page contains a director, a list of genres, a list of actors, and each actor in the list contains a list of characters they played in the movie. You can't sensibly fit all of this into a single flat structure like a relation. The order of the hierarchy isn't the same on both pages. On one page we hav

Nepal blocks Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X over rule breach, amid censorship concerns

Nepal has ordered internet service providers to block access to major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X, after the companies failed to comply with local registration rules — drawing criticism from media rights groups and raising concerns over censorship and free expression. On Thursday, Nepal’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology directed the Nepal Telecommunications Authority to instruct internet service providers to restrict access to 26 so

PayPal and Venmo users get free year of Perplexity Pro and Comet AI browser

Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways Some PayPal and Venmo users can now access Comet for free. The offer includes a one-year subscription to Perplexity Pro. Comet is Perplexity's new AI-centric web browser. PayPal and Venmo users in the US and other global markets can now receive early access to Perplexity's highly anticipated Comet web browser, PayPal announced. The offer includes a 12-month free trial of Pe

PayPal and Venmo users get a free year of Perplexity Pro and early access to its AI browser

Perplexity, the NVIDIA- and Bezos-backed AI company, is partnering with PayPal to get its Comet browser in front of millions of the financial tech giant's users. The deal will see PayPal and Venmo customers in the US and select international markets gain access to the AI-powered browser, as well as a free 12-month subscription to Perplexity Pro, which normally costs $200. There are, of course, some conditions. The promotion is part of PayPal's new subscription hub, where users can manage all th

PayPal and Venmo users can try Perplexity's Comet AI browser free for a year now

May James/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways Some PayPal and Venmo users can now access Comet for free. The offer includes a one-year subscription to Perplexity Pro. Comet is Perplexity's new AI-centric web browser. PayPal and Venmo users in the US and other global markets can now receive early access to Perplexity's highly anticipated Comet web browser, PayPal announced today. The offer includes a 12-month f

PayPal and Venmo are giving out Comet invites and free Perplexity Pro subscriptions

Invites to Perplexity’s new AI-powered web browser, Comet, are one of the web’s hottest commodities these days. The new product was made available first to the AI firm’s $200-per-month Max subscribers and a small group of invitees. But now there’s a new way to jump ahead on the waitlist. On Wednesday, PayPal announced it’s giving its customers, including PayPal and Venmo users, early access to Comet as well as a free year’s subscription to Perplexity’s premium service, Perplexity Pro, normally $

A Ritzy L.A. Enclave Learned a Bitter Lesson About the Limits of Its Wealth

In June, after months of thwarted efforts, the City of Calabasas received a favorable ruling in its case against Los Angeles County: The Superior Court ruled that Calabasas had the right to test the fire debris deposited in the landfill. The court decision seemed to have an effect: For the next seven weeks, the county and Calabasas tried to negotiate a settlement. No agreement was reached, however, and finally, on Aug. 11, experts hired by the city took 20 samples from four trucks arriving at t

Apple pulls iPhone torrent app from AltStore PAL in Europe

is a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Apple has removed the iPhone torrenting client, iTorrent, from AltStore PAL’s alternative iOS marketplace in the EU, showing that it can still exert control over apps that aren’t listed on the official App Store. iTorrent developer Daniil Vinogradov told

IT system supplier cyberattack impacts 200 municipalities in Sweden

A cyberattack on Miljödata, an IT systems supplier for roughly 80% of Sweden’s municipal systems, has caused accessibility problems in more than 200 regions of the country. In addition to the service disruption, there are concerns that attackers also stole sensitive data. Local media report that the threat actor demanded a ransom of 1.5 (currently around $168,000) Bitcoins from Miljödata in exchange for not leaking stolen information. Miljödata is a Swedish software company that develops and p