Category: News and Views

LED contact lens treatment may prevent diabetes-related blindness | New Atlas

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If diabetes progresses too far, it can result in a potentially blinding condition known as retinopathy. And while existing treatments are invasive and often painful, there may be new hope in the form of an LED-equipped contact lens.

Diabetic retinopathy occurs when the disease damages tiny blood vessels in the eye, reducing blood flow to nerve cells in the retina, starving them of oxygen and causing them to die.

The body tries to compensate by growing new blood vessels in the retina, although the diabetes often causes these to be imperfectly formed, resulting in their bleeding and damaging the retina. That damage is repaired via the growth of scar tissue – not new nerve cells – so over time, the patient loses their sight.

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Google’s ‘delete last 15 minutes of search history’ feature comes to Android early | Mashable

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Wouldn’t it be great if you could just click a button and just wipe, say, the last 15 minutes of your Google search history?

iPhone users have been living that dream since last summer, when Google rolled out that very option to its iOS app. Now Android users can now feel the joy of deleting your most recent search history with a single tap too.

Google is now rolling out the option to remove the last 15 minutes of a user’s search history to its official Android app, according to The Verge and confirmed by the search giant. Some Android users are already reporting that the feature is now available to them.

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These two states passed gas tax suspensions. More may follow | CNN

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As inflation and Russia’s war on Ukraine force consumers to pay more at the pump, some states are temporarily suspending their gas tax — and others may follow.

Lawmakers in California, which has the highest gas tax in the country at 51-cents-per-gallon, are proposing a $400 gas tax rebate, after state Democrats previously shot down a gas tax pause. Lawmakers say the rebate will cover the cost of the current gas tax for a full year for most drivers.

Other state leaders, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have called for suspending gas taxes, which stands at 6% in Michigan.

The national average gas price was $4.25 per gallon on Sunday.

Two states have already enacted laws suspending the gas tax.

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Why we’re excited about NASA’s new ‘Mega Moon rocket’ | Live Science

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Officials at NASA are no doubt both excited and nervous as the agency gets ready for the debut of its most powerful rocket ever, dubbed the “Mega Moon rocket.” The vehicle is officially known as the Space Launch System (SLS) and is part of NASA’s Artemis program. It is being prepped for a rollout towards the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday (March 17) for prelaunch testing of the Artemis I mission.

We here at Live Science are always over the moon about any new launch vehicle, but NASA’s upcoming spaceship makes us especially giddy. Here are a few reasons why.

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Daylight Saving vs Standard Time: Map shows which is better | Fast Company

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On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate, unanimously and with nearly zero debate, passed legislation to make daylight saving time (DST) permanent across the country.

The vote took place two days after lawmakers lost an hour of sleep on Sunday when the clocks sprang forward, marking this year’s DST start, and bringing with it one additional hour of sunshine for most Americans.

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Augmented reality’s half-decade of stagnation | TechCrunch

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Hello readers, and welcome back to Week in Review!

Last week, I talked about the future of this newsletter and what’s coming next. The short of which is that in the coming weeks I will be winding down my time authoring the Week in Review newsletter as I start sending out a brand new newsletter for TechCrunch called Chain Reaction focused exclusively on crypto, web3 and the metaverse — with all of its ridiculousness and intrigue.

The extra-thrilling element is that this weekly newsletter will have a weekly podcast attached to it, which I will share some more details on soon.

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Which companies are pulling out of Russia? | BBC News

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Thirty years ago when communism collapsed in the Soviet Union, Western firms stepped up their presence in Russia.

The arrival of big Western companies symbolised the start of a new era with Russians becoming eager consumers of brands ranging from fast-food chain McDonalds to Levi jeans and luxury goods.

Now, in the wake of President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a growing number of firms have suspended activities in Russia.

So which firms, in which sectors, are exiting and why have others held back?

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How People Actually Make Money From Cryptocurrencies | WIRED

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YOU SAW THE many cryptocurrency-related Super Bowl ads, and maybe you found them weird, or deeply dystopian, or just disturbingly familiar. Nevertheless, perhaps you believe the blockchain has financial rewards left to reap and want to jump in, or you’ve already got some of your money tied up in cryptocurrencies via companies like Coinbase and FTX that were advertising during the big game.

What now? Keeping track of the ups and downs of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other crypto coins and actively trading on those fluctuations can be a full-time job. Day-trading, basically. And jumping into NFTs, the digital baubles you can mint, buy, or sell, is still daunting for many.

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Everything Apple Announced (March 2022): iPhone SE, Mac Studio, iPad Air | WIRED

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ON TUESDAY, APPLE unveiled an array of new devices, including a new iPhone SE with 5G, a new version of the iPad Air, and Mac Studio, a whole new desktop PC with a powerful new processor. Apple made all these announcements in a prerecorded presentation that oddly did not reference the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, even though the company changed its policies last week in response to the conflict. Apple’s product shows are like Waffle House—no matter how many crises befall the world around them, they’ll keep on going.

Here’s everything that was announced.

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A Russian cyberwar may not boost security stocks much further | CNN

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Tech stocks, like the rest of the broader market, have seen their fair share of ups and downs since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February. But for one part of the technology sector — cybersecurity -— it’s been a roaring bull market for the past few weeks.

The ETFMG Prime Cyber Security (HACK) and First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity (CIBR) exchange-traded funds, which both own shares of top cybersecurity companies such as Zscaler (ZS), CrowdStrike (CRWD), Cloudflare (NET), Fortinet (FTNT) and Splunk (SPLK), have each surged about 10% since Russia attacked Ukraine.

The rally makes sense. After all, there are growing concerns about cyber warfare from Russia against the West in response to sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s regime.

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