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Astronomers have found 20 new moons around Saturn
Saturn now has more known moons than any other planet in our solar system, following the announcement of 20 previously unknown satellites, bringing its total up to 82 (Space.com). Jupiter was the previous record holder, with 79 moons.
Saturn's latest moons are all very small – around five kilometres in diameter – and were discovered using the Subaru telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The Carnegie Institution for Science is holding a competition to name them after giants from Inuit, Norse and Gallic mythology.
Adobe to cut off all Venezuelan subscribers with no refunds
Adobe has announced that, on October 28, it will cancel the subscriptions of all Creative Cloud users in Venezuela and remove access to any of their work stored on its systems (The Verge). No refunds will be provided and the ban is also reportedly being applied to users who no longer live in Venezuela.
Adobe is demonstrating the inherent vulnerability of Software-as-a-Service models and exacting these punitive measures against artists and creatives from the South American nation because, it says, “the U.S. Government issued Executive Order 13884, the practical effect of which is to prohibit almost all transactions and services between U.S. companies, entities, and individuals in Venezuela.”
Twitter needs to start exposing the UK's murky online propaganda
Twitter has clamped down on ‘state-backed’ information campaigns in the past year, but it appears that in its anti-government push, not all states may be created equal (WIRED). Last week, it was reported that a part-time soldier in the UK army’s psychological warfare unit, the 77th Brigade, was also Twitter’s head of editorial for the Middle East.
Low-cost smartphones often come with major privacy holes
While the well-off can afford premium mobile devices with plenty of security features and regular patches, many people in both wealthy and poorer economies are using extremely low-cost Android devices that provide little hope of privacy (Ars Technica). From impoverished US users whose sole internet access is via their phone to customers of Filipino brand MyPhone, whose smartphones cost around $19 and come pre-loaded with spyware, the world's budget device owners are well aware of the security implications but unable to afford an alternative.
Amazon’s Kindle Kids Edition is way more fun than the regular one
Amazon’s made its first Kindle for kids and it’s really quite fun (WIRED). We say made; the Kindle Kids Edition is a tweaked version of the regular Kindle with a year’s subscription to its Fire for Kids Unlimited library. Designed for children up to the age of 12, there’s fun lockscreen wallpapers to choose from – we liked the panda – as well as larger images in the main homescreen and what Amazon calls “fuzzy search” that recognises misspellings.
The vaping backlash is on
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
