Computer science science

Video software remains an integral part of many people's lives in 2021 as the COVID pandemic continues to impact jobs and social lives. Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams—three of the most popular tools—offer ways to use virtual backgrounds for extra privacy or simply a change of scenery. Another way of achieving that without uploading images is blurring the background altogether. Luckily, that feature is also now available on all three video conferencing tools, making it quick and easy to hide your surroundings from workmates, friends or family. Here's how to toggle the blurred background feature both before and during meetings. Zoom : The software has offered the feature since February 1, 2021, when the company released an updated version of the tool, V. 5.5.0. "Users can now choose to blur their background rather than selecting a specific virtual background, providing added privacy when a branded background is unavailable or unnecessary," patch notes said. … [Read more...] about How to Blur Your Background on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet Video Calls

Hank Azaria recently opened up about voicing a person of colour (POC) character Apu in The Simpsons . The actor has apologised for lending his voice to Apu, an immigrant from West Bengal, India. Hank who is white, had voiced the character since the show started in 1989 but stood down last year amidst criticism of racial stereotyping. Azaria, who appeared on the Armchair Expert podcast hosted by actors Dax Shepard and Monica Padman, opened up about the backlash. He said, "I really didn't know any better. I didn't think about it. I was unaware how much relative advantage I had received in this country as a white kid from Queens. Just because there were good intentions it doesn't mean there weren't real negative consequences to the thing that I am accountable for." For the unversed, Apu's character in the animated series The Simpsons came under scrutiny after an Indian-American comedian Hari Kondabolu, released a documentary titled The Problem With Apu in … [Read more...] about Hank Azaria Apologises For Voicing Apu In The Simpsons: I Really Didn’t Know Any Better

advertisement advertisement advertisement In American basketball, the path to becoming a professional has primarily been a singular one: Play high school hoops, then NCAA college for at least one year. Until a player signs that first pro contract, he or she is largely prohibited from earning any money from the sport, at the risk of NCAA ineligibility. Over the years, universities have made billions of dollars from TV broadcast rights, advertising and apparel deals, video game licensing, and more. In March, the Supreme Court heard arguments from athletes in a case against the NCAA, saying that the NCAA’s restrictions on education-related benefits—things such as computers, science equipment, and musical instruments—violate federal antitrust law. advertisement advertisement The NCAA OWNS my name image and likeness. Someone on music scholarship can profit from an album. Someone on academic scholarship can have a tutor service. For … [Read more...] about How this startup is redesigning pro basketball for the creator economy

It's one of the hottest IPOs of the year. Driven by the cryptocurrency bull market, Coinbase comes to Wall Street this week. It's the first cryptoexchange on the floor, and many industry hopes are pinned on the US's biggest digital currency trading platform. The 9-year-old platform is well-positioned to succeed as it gained more than 13 million new customers in the first quarter of 2021. It posted revenues of $1.8 billion (€1.5 billion) in that time, nine times more than the same period last year. It has been boosted by the ongoing Bitcoin boom, the price of which has doubled to around $60,000 since January. With a possible $100 billion valuation, Coinbase may end up being the most successful IPO of the year. It has more than 56 million users in more than 100 countries and after Binance and Huobi Global, two Chinese crypto exchanges, the marketplace is the third-largest in the world. Stepping stone towards acceptance The listing should be a milestone on the way to wider … [Read more...] about US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase makes stock market debut

Cloud-native super computing is the next big thing in supercomputing, and it’s here today, ready to tackle the toughest HPC and AI workloads. The University of Cambridge is building a cloud-native supercomputer in the UK. Two teams of researchers in the U.S. are separately developing key software elements for cloud-native supercomputing. The Los Alamos National Laboratory, as part of its ongoing collaboration with the UCF Consortium, is helping to deliver capabilities that accelerate data algorithms. Ohio State University is updating Message Passing Interface software to enhance scientific simulations. NVIDIA is making cloud-native supercomputers available to users worldwide in the form of its latest DGX SuperPOD. It packs key ingredients such as the NVIDIA BlueField-2 data processing unit ( DPU ) now in production. So, What Is Cloud-Native Supercomputing? Like Reese’s treats that wrap peanut butter in chocolate, cloud-native supercomputing combines the best of two … [Read more...] about Cloud-Native Supercomputing Is Here: So, What’s a Cloud-Native Supercomputer?