CATEGORIES

YA SCI-FI THRILLER ‘VOYAGERS' DOESN'T QUITE TAKE OFF

The most surprising thing about “ Voyagers,” a sci-fi thriller about a group of young adults who have been tasked with travelling to and repopulating a new planet, is that it isn’t based on a Young Adult book series. Writer and director Neil Burger, who was also behind the “Divergent” films apparently decided to cut out the Intellectual Property middleman and make his own YA statement. That said, it does borrow heavily from quite a few other sources, with shades of “Lord of the Flies,” “The Giver,” “Ender’s Game,” “Euphoria” and any number of space madness films.

BIDEN TELLS EXECS US NEEDS TO INVEST, LEAD IN COMPUTER CHIPS

President Joe Biden used a virtual meeting with corporate leaders about a global shortage of semiconductors to push for his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, telling them that the U.S. should be the world’s computer chip leader.

BIDEN NAMES 2 EX-NSA OFFICIALS FOR SENIOR CYBER POSITIONS

President Joe Biden has selected two former senior National Security Agency officials for key cyber jobs in his administration, the White House said in moving to fill out a team whose role has grown more urgent after two major hacks that have consumed the government’s attention.

Everything We Know About For All Mankind Season 2 on Apple+

Ever imagined what would have happened had the Cold War space race never ended? What would have happened if the Soviets had been the first power to have a successful landing on the Moon? Well, you needn’t trouble yourselves anymore, as Apple TV+’s For All Mankind tells you exactly that. The show, created by Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, was a hit for Apple when its first season debuted in November 2019. Today, we are discussing the show’s ongoing second season and the information we know about the announced third season.

Meghan Markle, Prince Harry Reveal First Netflix Docuseries

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s first Netflix series will center on the Invictus Games, which gives sick and injured military personnel and veterans the opportunity to compete in sports.

High Court Sides With Google in Copyright Fight With Oracle

Technology companies sighed with relief after the Supreme Court sided with Google in a copyright dispute with Oracle. The high court said Google did nothing wrong in copying code to develop the Android operating system now used on most smartphones.

OFFICIAL: EU AGENCY TO CONFIRM ASTRAZENECA BLOOD CLOT LINK

A top official at the European Medicines Agency says there’s a causal link between AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine and rare blood clots, but that it’s unclear what the connection is and that the benefits of taking the shot still outweigh the risks of getting COVID-19.

WHAT BIDEN'S NEW $100B PLAN FOR BROADBAND MEANS

The problems with U.S. broadband networks have been obvious for years. Service costs more than in many other rich nations, it still doesn’t reach tens of millions of Americans and the companies that provide it don’t face much competition.

CEO OF GOOGLE'S SELF-DRIVING CAR SPINOFF STEPS DOWN FROM JOB

The executive who steered the transformation of Google’s self-driving car project into a separate company worth billions of dollars is stepping down after more than five years on the job.

VIRGIN GALACTIC ROLLS OUT LATEST GENERATION OF SPACESHIP

Virgin Galactic rolled out its newest spaceship as the company looks to resume test flights in the coming months at its headquarters in the New Mexico desert.

SCIENCE PANEL: CONSIDER AIR COOLING TECH AS CLIMATE BACK-UP

The U.S. must seriously consider the idea of tinkering with the atmosphere to cool a warming Earth and accelerate research into how and whether humanity should hack the planet, the National Academy of Sciences said.

NASA GIVES ALL CLEAR: EARTH SAFE FROM ASTEROID FOR 100 YEARS

Whew, now here’s some good cosmic news: NASA has given Earth the all clear for the next century from a particularly menacing asteroid.

DAPPER LABS, CREATORS OF NBA TOP SHOT, GET $305M IN FUNDING

Canadian blockchain technology company Dapper Labs has secured $305 million in private funding — some of it from current and former NBA players, including Michael Jordan — to scale up its virtual NBA trading card site, the company said this week.

TWO SPACE FANS GET SEATS ON BILLIONAIRE'S PRIVATE FLIGHT

A billionaire’s private SpaceX flight filled its two remaining seats this week with a scientist-teacher and a data engineer whose college friend actually won a spot but gave him the prize.

LITTLE THINGS: THE KEY PILLAR IN APPLE DESIGN & INNOVATION

Apple’s design language has changed a great deal in recent years, away from the silvers and rounded edges towards a modern, industrialinspired design, as sported by the iPad Pro and iPhone 12.

CHINA CUTS TAXES TO SPUR SEMICONDUCTOR DEVELOPMENT

China announced tax breaks this week to spur growth of its semiconductor industry following U.S. sanctions that alarmed the ruling Communist Party by cutting offaccess to American processor chips for tech giant Huawei and some other companies.

ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH IN ‘GODZILLA VS. KONG'

“Godzilla vs. Kong” begins, fittingly, with the big guy asleep.

EPIC GAMES COMPLAINS ABOUT APPLE TO UK COMPETITION WATCHDOG

Epic Games submitted a complaint this week about Apple’s alleged “monopolistic practices” to the U.K. competition watchdog, which is investigating the iPhone maker over concerns it has a dominant position in app distribution.

AUTOMAKERS BMW, VOLVO BACK MORATORIUM ON DEEP SEABED MINING

Automakers BMW and Volvo announced that they support a moratorium on deep seabed mining for minerals used in electric vehicle batteries and other products.

Malala Takes Her Passions To The Small Screen With Apple

Malala Yousafzai is a Nobel laureate known around the world for her activism, but she’s also a cartoon fan, and is taking her love of television and film to Apple TV+.

INTEL ANNOUNCES ARIZONA EXPANSION AS CHIPMAKER SEEKS FOOTING

Intel announced this week it will build two new factories in Arizona and outsource more of its production as a new CEO looks to turnaround the struggling chipmaker.

STOCK TRADING APP COMPANY ROBINHOOD FILES PLAN TO GO PUBLIC

Stock trading app company Robinhood said this week that it has submitted a confidential plan to go public later this year.

FACEBOOK WORKING ON INSTAGRAM FOR KIDS UNDER 13

Facebook says it is working on a version of its Instagram app for kids under 13, who are technically not allowed to use the app in its current form due to federal privacy regulations.

PART OF WRIGHT BROTHERS' 1ST AIRPLANE ON NASA'S MARS CHOPPER

A piece of the Wright brothers’ first airplane is on Mars.

IN ‘HAPPILY,' 10 MILLENNIALS WALK INTO AN AIRBNB....

Their friends are annoyed — and not just because the bathroom is tied up. They’re annoyed because this honeymoon phase has lasted 14 years and shows no sign of abating.

CYBER ATTACK TIED TO CHINA BOOSTS DEVELOPMENT BANK'S CHIEF

The cyberattack crested just as finance officials from across Latin America were descending on Washington to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Inter-American Development Bank.

FOR TELEVISION, NFL DEAL IS LIKELY A MATTER OF SURVIVAL

The $113 billion deal to telecast NFL games through 2033 is head-swimmingly large — until you consider that the very survival of broadcast networks as we know them may depend upon it.

CHIPS AWAY: SEMICONDUCTOR SHORTAGE WREAKING HAVOC IN TECH

As Samsung Electronics warns that it’s grappling with the fallout of a “serious imbalance” in semiconductors, the technology world could be about to enter its own ‘lockdown’. From the PlayStation 5 to the new Tesla Model S, virtually every device maker could be forced to temporarily halt production, caught off-guard and causing delays to 2021 product pipelines.

BILL TO AID US PUBLISHERS VS. GOOGLE, FACEBOOK RISES AGAIN

A congressional effort to bolster U.S. news organizations in negotiations with Big Tech has supporters hoping that third time’s the charm.

APPLE TV+ GIVES A STRAIGHT-TO SERIES ORDER FOR LADY IN THE LAKE

Apple announced on March 10, 2021, that it had given a straight-to-series order for a new TV show titled Lady in the Lake.