Technology
Chinese nuclear plant 'performance issue' reported by its French joint operator
News/World: The French joint operator of a Chinese nuclear plant near Hong Kong said Monday that the plant is dealing with a "performance issue" but is currently operating within safety limits, following a report of a potential radioactive leak.
New resources help Indigenous communities start process of searching for unmarked graves
News/Canada/Manitoba: A group of archaeologists and academics has created free online resources answering questions about how to start searching for unmarked graves and explaining the process and the complexities. They say it's a way of empowering First Nations communities.
Google tweaking its search algorithms to deal with harassers
Media|Business|World|: Washington: Tech giant Google has revealed that it will be enhancing its Search experience in a bid to protect people from harassment of different kinds. As per Mashable, at I/O last month, Google revealed that it's working on a new underlying technology called Multitask Unified Model (MUM) to fetch answers to more complex search queries. Well, the company has now revealed that it will be further enhancing its Search in order to protect people from harassment of different kinds. Google, as of now, flags harassment on people manually reporting websites that post content about them without their consent and demand payment for its removal. As a part of the process, Google investigates the knowledge provided by someone tormented by this harassment and subsequently removes the page from search results while also demoting the website's overall ranking. The search giant plans to further enhance this process by not only targeting the malicious site but also reducing the ranking of comparable "low quality" predatory websites that appear in search results. This could aid in protecting people that are targeted by repeated harassment via unfavourable information posted about them online without their consent. "Over the years of building Search, our approach has remained consistent: We take examples of queries where we're not doing the best job in providing high quality results, and look for ways to make improvements to our algorithms," the company said. "In this way, we don't "fix" individual queries, since they're often a symptom of a class of problems that affect many different queries. Our ability to address issues continues to lead the industry, and we've deployed advanced technology, tools and quality signals over the last two decades, making Search work better every day," Google added. Google Search is heavily used worldwide so the fact that the search giant regularly updates the service with more features and redesigns it from time to time too isn't much of a surprise.
Microsoft will end support for Windows 10 in 2025
Technology|World|Business|: Washington: With a new version of Windows, potentially called Windows 11, scheduled to launch by the end of this month, Microsoft has announced that support for Windows 10 will end on 14 October 2025. This includes the Windows 10 Home Pro and the Pro versions for Education and Workstations. The tech giant recently updated its official Windows 10 documentation to include this information. On Microsoft's Windows 10 Home and Pro Lifecycle Policy page, the company stated that it will "continue to support at least one Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel until October 14, 2025." Underneath, it then lists the retirement date of 'Windows 10 Home and Pro' as 14 October 2025. This means that the tech giant will not release any more updates and security fixes after that date. However, the company's recent teaser confirmed that it will launch Windows 11 by the end of this month. It has listed a new event on its website, which will take place on June 24. As per The Verge, at the event, the company will highlight everything that is coming 'next for Windows.' The event will kick off at 8:30 pm IST. Microsoft confirmed this news via its official Twitter handle. Windows 11 is expected to get a major UI overhaul. As per The Verge, Microsoft has been working on something codenamed 'Sun Valley', which the company has referred to as a "sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows." There will be many other changes, including some significant Windows Store ones. Microsoft has also been working on a new app store for Windows in recent months, and rumours have suggested Microsoft will open its store up to all apps and rival payment platforms.
House lawmakers introduce Big Tech bills that could break up Amazon, Google and others
Tech giants including Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google could be forced to make sweeping changes to their businesses under a series of new bills introduced Friday by House lawmakers targeting the companies' economic dominance.
