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Tech News
A guide on workplace humor examines how leaders and employees can use jokes to build rapport without embarrassing themselves or colleagues. It draws on an example of a finance director opening a results presentation to hundreds of staff with humor, illustrating how tone and timing shape whether a joke lands well in a professional setting.
The Interim Computer Museum (ICM) has opened a web presence detailing its mission to preserve computing history through interactive, hands-on exhibits that combine vintage hardware with modern upgrades. The nonprofit operates as a 501(c)(3) charity working alongside SDF Public Access UNIX System, Inc., a 501(c)(7) membership organization, relying on memberships to fund events, remote access and artifact preservation.
Cybersecurity guidance highlights that VPNs are most valuable in two situations: connecting to unsecured public Wi-Fi and preventing internet service providers from tracking browsing habits. Encrypting traffic through a VPN tunnel blocks eavesdroppers on shared networks and stops ISPs from logging and selling usage data to third parties, per FTC research cited in the coverage.
Signal has introduced Automatic Key Verification, a key transparency feature that checks whether the public keys stored for your account actually belong to your own devices, reducing reliance on manually comparing safety numbers. Trail of Bits built one of three independent auditors that continuously verify this system by maintaining its own Merkle tree copy of the global key map and periodically signing it to confirm consistency.
The EPA is proposing to eliminate a federal rule requiring states to notify the public and accept comments before approving air-pollution permits for industrial facilities, including data centers and the power plants built to supply them. A separate EPA proposal from last month would also allow developers to begin construction before permits are finalized. These changes come as data centers expand rapidly across the rural South, disproportionately affecting Black communities.
A survey of 4,262 UK adults by the Policy Institute at King's College London and Sense about Science found that 63% of respondents trust scientists highly, while only 5% expressed strong distrust. Regression analysis showed that feeling scientists are 'on their side' and perceiving them as open and transparent mattered more to respondents than judgments of scientific expertise or general benevolence toward society.
A newly compiled dataset tracking all-cause mortality across 134 countries indicates that official COVID-19 death tolls were vastly understated, with excess deaths pointing to more than 6 million uncounted fatalities worldwide. The analysis suggests roughly half of governments either failed to accurately measure or deliberately concealed the true scale of pandemic deaths.
A global analysis covering 204 countries found that nearly 3 billion people are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke, contributing to roughly 1.7 million deaths each year. The research highlights that passive smoke exposure remains a major public health burden despite decades of anti-smoking campaigns.
Four murals in San Francisco's Clarion Alley were painted over by a worker acting on orders from a property manager who reportedly mistook the artwork for graffiti. The Clarion Alley Mural Project, which has curated the alley's murals since 1992, says none of the artists or organizers were consulted before the paint-over occurred. Co-director Veronica Torres called the group 'heartbroken and furious' in a letter demanding accountability.
A new study reports that annual U.S. deaths from cancers linked to alcohol consumption rose from about 11,400 in 1990 to more than 23,100 in 2023. The increase spans beyond liver cancer, pointing to a broader rise across multiple cancer types tied to drinking.
A newly launched interactive map displays every bus, tram, metro and train operated by De Lijn, STIB-MIVB, TEC and NMBS on a single interface. It shows real-time delays, stop locations and departure times for the country's combined public transport network.
Nitter, the open-source alternative front-end for Twitter/X, now has more publicly working instances than it did before a series of takedowns hit the project. New volunteer-run instances have come online, alongside guidance for operators on securing session tokens and handling DMCA and other legal complaints.