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Stakhanov shattered this norm by a staggering 1,400%. But the sheer quantity involved was not the whole story. It was Stakhanov’s achievement as an individual that became the most meaningful aspect of this episode. And the work ethic he embodied then – which spread all over the USSR – has been invoked by managers in the west ever since. Stakhanov’s personal striving, commitment, potential and passion led to the emergence of a new ideal figure in the imagination of Stalin’s Communist Party....

Tesla’s approach to driverless vehicle technology has been controversial at best. A series of increasingly poor marketing and branding choices have made it difficult to ascertain exactly what the company’s actual benchmark for autonomous driving is. On the one hand, it’s clear that Tesla has one of the world’s most advanced driver-assistance features. Teslas are among the safest vehicles a human could drive. Yet, on the other hand, the company is probably years away from developing a product that doesn’t come with a warning for drivers to keep their hands on the wheel at all times and be prepared to take over at a split-second’s notice....

Today, HIIDE provides access to a database of biometric and biographic data, including of those who aided coalition forces. Military equipment and devices — including the collected data — are speculated to have been captured by the Taliban, who have taken over Afghanistan. This development is the latest in many incidents that exemplify why governments and international organizations cannot yet securely collect and use biometric data in conflict zones and in their crisis responses....

During its first public flight in Europe last year, CEO Florian Reuter stated that backing from Daimler gave his company the credibility and traction that his competitors cannot claim to have. CEO of Mercedes-Benz Cars and Chairman of its parent company Daimler, Ola Källenius said that by partnering with Volocopter, Daimler can be part of “the mobility of the future.” Thanks to this collaboration, catching a lift will have a whole new meaning....

For a society that hasn’t quite broken out of its mindset around traditional gender roles, seeing women as everyone else’s helpers instead of their own people with their own destinies is par for the course. We even see this reflected in the emerging field of AI voice assistants – all of which sound female. “Alexa, why do you sound like a girl?” Alexa, Siri, Cortana – they’re the latest in a long line of voice assistants that have sounded female....

India’s homegrown positioning system, NavIC (NAVigation with Indian Constellation) will be available for civilian use in the first half of this year. The constellation can provide location data within 10 meters of accuracy. In 2017, the Space Application Centre (SAC), based in the western city of Ahmedabad said this is much better than the 20-30 meters accuracy afforded by GPS. For consumers to take advantage of this, the easiest way is to use phones that support this navigation system....

Early on during the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists who worked out the genetic code of the RNA molecules of cells in the lungs and intestines found that only a small group of cells in these organs were most vulnerable to being infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. That allowed researchers to focus on blocking the virus’s ability to enter these cells. Our technique could make it easier for researchers to find this kind of information....

Whenever I have a free moment during weekends, I like to build things. I might make a cutting board out of discarded wood, or a chair, or something else that’s relatively easy to make, considering my limited skill set. It gives me a lot of satisfaction to create something tangible and personal. But it’s not just the act of creating that I like, I also enjoy learning stuff. There are countless videos of hardcore woodworkers explaining how to use every tool imaginable....

Whatever it was, it came and went. But there was one late entry to the short-lived trend that was of particular interest, due to its connection with hypocritical internet policies and disinformation: this tweet by former Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. If we look past why Ahmadinejad picked a picture which shows him squinting — and the fact that he used two different fonts for 2009 and 2019 — it’s a pretty standard example of a politician trying to hop on online trends to impress the youths, right?...

The key driver behind this tech golden age was raw innovation, as all of the giant companies pioneering it started with a wild idea in someone’s garage. Consequently, the world’s major economies came up with different approaches to try and stimulate tech innovation in their attempt to win the 21st century’s space race: the tech race. On one side, the US worked on maintaining its tech dominance by letting its Silicon Valley unicorns experiment without much supervision whatsoever, as long as the innovation flow was producing profitable products....

Most of us are able to describe emotional memories in some detail, even after a long time, while memories of more mundane experiences and events fade away. But exactly why that is and how we actually remember remains unclear. In our new study, published in Psychological Review, we have come up with a computer model that may help to explain it. To study how emotion influences memory in the laboratory, scientists typically show participants films, stories and pictures that trigger an emotional response....

When COVID-19 first hit, futurist Peter Schwartz warned businesses would soon embark on a grand experiment unlike any before: “We’re going to learn the hard way, rather quickly and by necessity, everything that can be done remotely. We’re not going back to zero afterward.” For many of us, the reality of that shift is a lot more lo-fi than anticipated. Sure, mastering Microsoft Teams presented a temporary challenge, but maintaining professionalism whilst handling the banalities of day-to-day life in between Zoom calls has proven more difficult....

We were all stupid once. So, there’s no shame in admitting that we might have a ton of silly Facebook posts from when we started using the social network. We might not want everyone to see them, so Facebook lets you archive or delete them in bulk. Before we get started, the bulk delete/archive functionality is currently only available on Facebook’s mobile apps (Android, iOS, and Lite). So, make sure you have one of the versions before you start....

This wasn’t always the case though. When I first started working, I thought it was better to keep my opinions to myself — even if I felt that my manager was wrong, or didn’t have all the necessary information to make a decision. I’ve also — as I’m sure you have too — witnessed several heated discussions between colleagues and team leaders, and given that I don’t like conflict, this has made me even more uncomfortable and anxious to speak up in the past....

We all like to think that we have refined taste in music, but often we end up listening to our guilty pleasures on loop. You must have heard a ton of songs on Spotify or Apple Music, whatever service you use. So, how can you know what your most favorite songs are? Here’s how you can do it: If you use an iPhone, you can download the TuneTrack app....

What happens, though, when robots don’t do what we want them to – or do it in a way that causes harm? For example, what happens if a bionic arm is involved in a driving accident? Robot accidents are becoming a concern for two reasons. First, the increase in the number of robots will naturally see a rise in the number of accidents they’re involved in. Second, we’re getting better at building more complex robots....

You might not think it, but we rely heavily on our devices’ Settings page. Maybe you’re not loving the look and feel? Go to Settings and change it. Do you need to run on notifications? Settings. Need help? Send feedback through Settings. Love the app? Rate it through Settings. Though accessed very less compared to other aspects of your product, its presence is what makes the product feel complete. Designing settings can be tricky since it doesn’t get the needed attention it deserves and is often overlooked compared to other areas....

Symmetry is crucial to my photography. Little imperfections in form drive me nuts, which is why I spend unreasonable amounts of time trying to find the best angle to take a shot. Indeed, my stubborn pedantry has sent thousands of (otherwise decent) images to the bin – all because of minor kinks. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Thanks to editing tools like Lightroom and Photoshop, I can easily get rid of such minor defects – and doctor up an alright picture into a great one....

But one thing you might want to consider is running your car on vegetable oil. I took a deep dive, and I’m sharing all I learned with you about making the switch. Not all cars are equal Firstly, not all cars can run on straight vegetable oil. Older crappier diesel engine cars are most suitable to run on cooking oil. Petrol-powered cars have a different form of combustion and are thus unsuitable, as the vegetable oils are too flammable for their engines....

Last year, WhatsApp rolled out an ephemeral messages feature. However, those messages were visible to the other person for seven days, and that’s quite a lot of days for information you want to disappear. The company has been working on a feature that lets you send ‘view once’ photos and videos, and now it’s rolling it out to beta versions of the app across platforms. Here’s how you can use it:...