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Cardi B’s debut album Invasion of Privacy racked up over 100 million streams on Apple Music, setting a new record for first-week streams by a female artist on the service, Apple tells The Verge . Invasion of Privacy doubled the previous streaming record — held by Taylor Swift’s Reputation — by the middle of the week. It is now the fifth most-streamed album ever on Apple Music, passing The Weeknd’s Starboy and Ed Sheeran’s Divide . Debut albums usually don’t set streaming records — and they definitely don’t break records set by Taylor Swift — which makes this an even more impressive accomplishment for Cardi B. As for Apple Music, which just hit 40 million subscribers , it continues to show it can stand toe to toe with Spotify, at least when... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2ITCnEj"

Science It’s a hot (potato) mess. At some point, sweet potatoes crossed the Pacific. This much we know. As for the rest—How? When? Why?—we’re just not sure. Or, to be more clear, some people are sure… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2vcPHBu"

A Russian court has ruled that messaging app Telegram must be blocked in the country. The ruling follows months of battles between Telegram and Roskomnadzor, Russia’s telecommunications watchdog. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) wants to access user data from Telegram through the sharing of encryption keys, but Telegram has refused to comply even after a court ruling. Russian news agency Tass reports that the messaging service will be “blocked immediately” following the latest court ruling, and that the ban will be in place until Telegram provides decryption keys to the FSB. It’s not clear how immediate the ban will be, though. The Financial Times reports that the ban will likely take place once Telegram has appealed over the... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2vbZbNl"

Microsoft is rolling out new Surface Pro 4 firmware this week, and it finally introduces on-screen support for the Surface Dial accessory. The software maker originally promised to support the Surface Dial fully on the Surface Pro 4 back in October 2016, with a rough release date of early 2017. The support lets the Bluetooth-powered puck display contextual radial menus that you can interact with right on the display (underneath the Surface Dial). Microsoft’s latest Surface Pro includes this support out of the box, and the all-in-one Surface Studio was the first to introduce the on-screen Surface Dial. The screen size of the Surface Pro 4 is obviously a lot smaller than the Surface Studio, but the ability to sense the puck and display... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2qt6FGk"

After accusing Amazon for months of not paying its fair share of postage, President Trump has ordered a review of the US Postal Service’s finances via an executive order issued late Thursday night. The order calls for a task force to evaluate the operations and finances of the USPS. The order does not mention Amazon by name but it seems clear that Trump is trying to back his claim that the USPS is losing “many billions of dollars a year” due to the financial arrangement with its biggest shipper of packages, or about $1.50 for every Amazon package it delivers. Trump may very well be correct regarding the numbers, although his rage seems misplaced. Experts and even Trump’s own advisors have said that the enormous volume of packages shipped... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2JJWOoq"

An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include: Matchmaking Changes The initial load time into a match no longer counts against a player's abandon timer Changed the timeout before a missing player is marked as having abandoned a competitive match to be three minutes from the first time a player disconnects from the server, rather than from the moment the match is formed Queue times should now be significantly faster when dealing with large numbers of placement and recently-placed players in queue Moved the Competitive MMR change notification so it no longer overlaps your rank Fixed continuing to receive the prompt to rejoin a match after you have been dropped from said match Fixed a case where players would receive a rank change in matches that dissolved due to abandon General Added a stomp animation to Pyro that plays when coming down after blasting off from the ...

Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Kennedy (R-LA) will introduce legislation to protect the privacy of users’ online data, the pair said today in a joint statement. Though a bill has not been drafted yet, the legislation would, among other things, give users recourse options if their data is breached, and the right to opt out of data tracking and collection. The proposed legislation will address seven key points, the senators said: Give consumers the right to opt out and keep their information private by disabling data tracking and collection. Give users greater access to and control over their data. Require terms of service agreements to be written in “plain language.” Ensure users can see what information about them has already been... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2IOR3Ep"

Health You can learn how to administer naloxone yourself. Last week the Surgeon General issued an advisory emphasizing that “knowing how to use naloxone and keeping it within reach can save a life.” If you’re wondering what… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2IRffpX"

Health Here’s one more way our modern sleep schedules might be killing us. Night owls might get a rap for staying up too late watching Netflix or getting lost in meme spirals on the web, but it’s not all fun and games. Study after study shows… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2HkRdqe"

Technology It's a long list, and you've probably never heard of most of them. The information you leave around the web is an essential tool for targeting you with ads. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2qqB9cy"

Now that a popular parody and meme app in China called “Neihan Duanzi” has been shut down and its social media account on WeChat got deleted, fans of the app are gathering in solidarity offline in subtle protest. Drivers are honking at each other in code to indicate that they’re fans, The New York Times reports. A coded message might be a car honk, followed by a pause, and two more honks. This week, while in the US Congress was slowly grilling Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in China, regulators brought down swift bans on offending news apps and social media apps. On Monday, China banned several big news apps including Jinri Toutiao, owned by Beijing-based Bytedance Technology. Then, the following day, authorities shut down Neihan... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2HlSnSf"

SpyParty is Now Available on Steam Early Access! SpyParty is a competitive espionage game about subtle human behavior. A Spy hides in plain sight at a fancy cocktail party, trying to accomplish missions while blending in with the other guests, while a Sniper with a single bullet looks inward, searching for the Spy. via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2GUmoJk"

Austria-based startup Rebeat Innovation has just received $4.8 million in funding for a new way of manufacturing records called “high definition vinyl,” according to Pitchfork . The process, the patent for which was originally filed in 2016 , claims to allow for records with longer playing times, louder volume, and greater audio fidelity. To create HD vinyl, the audio is first digitally converted to a 3D topographic map. Then, lasers engrave the map onto a stamper, which makes an impression in the vinyl. Conceptually, this is not too dissimilar from how traditional vinyl is made — a needle etches grooves in rotating lacquer, which is used to create a mother copy that is then used to form the stamper. Rebeat Innovation is betting that by... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts "https://ift.tt/2IPopTM"

t7.13: == * Aegis now has an alt tooltip that explains how to pronounce the item * Tier 1 Tower Team Bounty reduced from 120 to 100 * Tier 2 Tower Team Bounty reduced from 200 to 120 * Tier 3 Tower Team Bounty reduced from 200 to 140 * Tier 4 Tower Team Bounty reduced from 200 to 160 * Range barracks team bounty reduced from 150 to 100 * Filler buildings gold bounty from 125 to 75 * Ranged creep average gold bounty reduced from 57 to 54 * Glyph duration increased from 5 to 6 * Melee Barracks HP increased from 1500 to 1800 * Shrines HP increased from 1500 to 1750 * Shrines now have 5 HP regen * Rescaled Level 12->25 respawn time curve to be slightly less early and the same later on (changed from 48/52/54/56/58/60/70/74/76/78/82/86/90/100 to 44/46/48/50/52/54/65/70/75/80/85/90/95/100) * Removed hero class specific perks, the bonuses now affect all classes. * Removed Status Resistance as a Strength based attribute bonus * Rebalanced str/int/agi bonuses below (t...

Play Ballistic Overkill for FREE starting now through Sunday at 1PM Pacific Time. You can also pickup Ballistic Overkill at 50% off the regular price!* If you already have Steam installed, click here to install or play Ballistic Overkill. If you don't have Steam, you can download it here . *Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2Hu5wpU"

Health What you should know before you try it. While people have been practicing intermittent fasting for thousands of years, it’s only in the past two decades that scientists began to understand what, if any,… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2GWdnvx"