Astronomers have discovered a gigantic, undulating wave of dust and gas where newborn stars are forged over a 50 million billion mile stretch of the Milky Way. The Guardian reports: The gaseous structure, which holds more mass than 3 million suns, runs directly behind our solar system as viewed from the heart of the galaxy, but has eluded observation until now. The spectacular string of stellar nurseries forms the largest known wave in the Milky Way and was announced, appropriately, at a scientific conference a stone's throw from the surf mecca of Waikiki beach in Hawaii. Measurements of the wave show that it stretches over 9,000 light years and makes up what is known as the "local arm" of the Milky Way. Looking down on the flat disc of the galaxy, the wave appears as a straight line about 400 light years wide. But from the side, it rises and falls 500 light years above and below the plane of the galaxy. For comparison, the width of the solar system is about half a light day -- the distance light travels in 12 hours. The discovery has thrown up a raft of questions, not least around how the wave formed. One idea is that a much smaller galaxy clattered into that part of the Milky Way in the far-flung past, setting off ripples that spread like those from a stone tossed into a pond. A more exotic hypothesis sees a role for the mysterious dark matter that lurks unseen around galaxies. The astronomers published their findings in the journal Nature.

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An anonymous reader shares a blog post from Kevin Rooke, investment specialist and co-founder of blockchain marketing agency agency0x: Imagine a startup with $12 billion of revenue, 125%+ YoY revenue growth (two years in a row), and Apple-esque gross margins (30-50%). Without knowing anything else about the business, what would you value it at? $50 billion? $100 billion? More? That's Apple's AirPods business, the fastest-growing segment of the world's most valuable company. Though Apple doesn't share sales numbers for AirPods, industry analysts have converged on estimated sales numbers for each of the last 3 years. In 2017, Apple sold an estimated 15 million devices, each priced at $150. That gave Apple a $2.25 billion revenue boost, only a 1% boost to Apple's $215 billion iPhone revenue. But in 2018, AirPods sales began to quiet Apple bears. 35 million pairs were sold, still priced at $150. That gave Apple an additional $5.25 billion in revenue, then representing 2.4% of iPhone revenue. And in 2019, Apple has pulled off yet another incredible year of AirPods sales. Apple sold an estimated 60 million units, but in 2019 the prices increased too. Apple's second generation AirPods launched at $200, and their newest variation, the AirPods Pro sell for $250. Assuming an even split of sales between Gen 1, Gen 2, and AirPods Pro, Airpods revenue was $12 billion in 2019. That's 4.5% of Apple's iPhone revenue. Investors are paying attention now. AirPods make as much money as Spotify, Twitter, Snap, and Shopify combined. And considering their triple-digit growth two years in a row, I would be shocked if AirPods didn't earn more money than Uber in 2020.

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pnutjam writes: New York is proposing a statewide virtual currency aimed at helping unbanked citizens get access to day-to-day financial transactions without predatory fees. Since there are an estimated 14 million U.S. adults without bank accounts, lawmakers in New York are trying to fix this with a new bill that "would create a 'public Venmo' system designed to include more people in the formal economy and stimulate local economic growth," reports Motherboard. "In November, New York State Assemblymember Ron Kim, Senator Julia Salazar, and Cornell law professor Robert Hockett announced their Inclusive Value Ledger (IVL) proposal. If passed, it would create the country's first publicly owned electronic banking platform, as well as a digital currency that can be exchanged for goods and services within the state." "The IVL plan calls for New York State to distribute the $55 billion per year in uncollected individual tax credits through a 'public Venmo,' a publicly-administered, non-extractive payment system that would allow recipients to spend freely within the state economy without transaction fees or delays," the report says. "Every business and individual residing in New York would be issued a virtual wallet, connected to a state government-controlled master wallet, that could act as a viable alternative to a bank account without the fees of a for-profit bank." The proposal does not include any specifics as to how the payment system will be secure, nor does it address the specific privacy needs for certain groups the lawmakers hope the system will serve, such as people who are undocumented.

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Finnish scientists say the food could be grown with near-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

The Harry Potter universe will be used to shine a light on nature's own amazing creatures.

One day after Amazon announced that it has populated the world with over 100 million Alexa-powered devices, Google decided to take the opportunity to tout some of its numbers. At CES 2020 on Tuesday, the company said that the Google Assistant is now used by 500 million monthly active users. VentureBeat reports of the new features coming to the digital assistant in 2020: Later this year, saying "Hey Google, read it" or "Hey Google, read this page" will trigger the assistant to read or translate text from an article or webpage into 42 languages. Longform reading will begin with articles and websites but may expand to areas like reading your emails in the future, a company spokesperson told VentureBeat. Starting with Hisense and TCL televisions, Google Assistant is also coming to turned-off TVs, showcasing a range of new features today like a redesigned speed dial, sticky notes for smart displays, and new privacy-focused voice command. Google wants more TV manufacturers to install microphones for far-field voice recognition in order to make TV's speakers function the same way a smart speaker works today, responding to voice commands to play music, check the weather, or ask a question. Google Nest smart displays today often share visual content in response to questions, but Google Assistant on televisions will act the same as a smart speaker, and only turn on the television if you say you want to watch a TV show or video content, a company spokesperson told VentureBeat. Other features coming to the Google Assistant include: Scheduled Actions, where you can ask the Assistant to turn on/off or start/stop a smart device at the time of your choosing; More privacy-focused voice controls like "Hey Google, that wasn't for you" to delete a mistaken recording; and the ability to say "Hey Google, leave a note" to place a Sticky Note on a Google Nest smart display for house guests or your family to see.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A new U.S. law prohibits broadband and TV providers from charging "rental" fees for equipment that customers have provided themselves. A U.S. government spending bill approved by Congress and signed by President Trump last month includes new requirements for television and broadband providers. A new "consumer right to accurate equipment charges" prohibits the companies from charging customers for "covered equipment provided by the consumer." Covered equipment is defined as "equipment (such as a router) employed on the premises of a person... to provide [TV service] or to provide fixed broadband Internet access service." The companies may not charge rental or lease fees in cases when "the provider has not provided the equipment to the consumer; or the consumer has returned the equipment to the provider." The new law is an update to the Communications Act and is scheduled to apply six months after passage, which would be June 20. The law gives the Federal Communications Commission an option to extend the deadline by six months if the FCC "finds that good cause exists for such an additional extension." One ISP in particular that's been requiring customers to pay a monthly fee for equipment they own is Frontier, which charges a $10 a month "Wi-Fi Router" fee, even if the router they use is fully compatible with the service and requires no additional work on Frontier's part. Frontier told Ars that it will comply with the new law, but it apparently won't give customers a break on rental fees until it's actually in place. "Once the new law is effective, Frontier plans to comply with the requirements," a company spokesperson told them.

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Finland's new Prime Minister has called for the introduction of a flexible working schedule that would involve a four-day week and six-hour days. From a report: Sanna Marin, the youngest female head of government in the world , has announced the intention to trial the initiative, which she claims could be "the next step" in working life. The 34-year-old leads a five party centre-left coalition - all led by women. The Social Democratic Party leader told NewEurope: "I believe people deserve to spend more time with their families, loved ones, hobbies and other aspects of life, such as culture. This could be the next step for us in working life." UPDATE: After being reported by the Evening Standard, Guardian, Independent, and many other outlets on Tuesday, we have learned that this news is not true. "Not only are these proposals not included in the Finnish government's policy program, multiple government sources told News Now Finland on Monday evening that it's not even on the horizon," reports News Now Finland. The Helsinki-based media project explains the origins of the story in their report.

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theodp writes: Dismissing questions of whether Ivanka Trump's Tuesday CES keynote appearance on The Path to the Future of Work should have gone to somebody else who's had more to do with tech in the administration, CES Chief Gary Shapiro informed the BBC: "Ivanka Trump actually co-chairs the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, whose members include companies like Apple, Walmart and IBM." On that point, it's worth noting that signed minutes and slides from a Sept. 2019 meeting of the Ivanka-led American Workforce Policy Advisory Board discussed plans for a possible January launch of a private sector-led "big" national ad campaign, including an "influencer marketing plan," that will target "Youth aged 16 to 20, and importantly, their parents" with the goal of realizing the untapped potential of what IBM calls "new collar" workers -- "people who don't have a 4-year degree [young people and mid-career], but who have built the skills and credentials to contribute to areas like the cloud and the cyber sector." The marketing campaign is the product of a working group co-chaired by IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and Apple CEO Tim Cook. In the slides, a screenshot from a "Landing Experience Prototype" for an accompanying website displays logos of some of America's biggest tech companies -- e.g. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, IBM -- and encourages visitors to: "Find an employer who understands. America's biggest employers know there's a huge skill shortage. They also know that today's top talent doesn't always come from traditional four-year universities. That's why we've asked them to sign a pledge to de-prioritize college degrees in their hiring processes." Meeting minutes show that the Board -- pressed by IBM's Rometty -- approved her working group's proposal to "develop a private sector-led national campaign to raise awareness of and promote multiple pathways to well-paying jobs for all Americans" through a voice vote. Prior to the vote, IBM VP of Corporate Marketing Ann Gould Rubin explained that "advertising can be a compelling way to change even deep-seated perceptions," adding that "it could both change perceptions and cause people to act." Rubin noted that -- on its own -- IBM has initiated some research to gain insights into how to reach the target audiences, looking at motivations, drivers, interests, barriers, and reactions to descriptions of pathways. Hey, like voters, those poor 16-year-old kids won't even know what hit 'em!

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Ammalgam shares a report from Unirobotica: Last year, Facebook announced measures to protect the 2020 U.S. election from foreign influence and misleading information last year. Now, in addition to those, [The Washington Post reports] the firm has announced that it is banning deepfakes -- manipulated photos and videos -- from its platforms, a move aimed to curb misinformation ahead of the U.S. presidential election later this year. This move is similar to a move made by Twitter to ban deepfakes from it's platform. This was announced in a blog post by Monika Bickert, their Vice President of Global Policy Management, stating that "misleading manipulated media" would be removed if it meets the following criteria: "It has been edited or synthesized -- beyond adjustments for clarity or quality -- in ways that aren't apparent to an average person and would likely mislead someone into thinking that a subject of the video said words that they did not actually say. And: It is the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning that merges, replaces or superimposes content onto a video, making it appear to be authentic." Facebook did reveal that "this policy does not extend to content that is parody or satire, or video that has been edited solely to omit or change the order of words."

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In 1996, I wrote a story for Upside, a dream really. I dreamt I was the CEO of Apple. Before Steve came back. I would buy a song, and make a new computer and drop the rest, and focus on getting developers to ship new products. Not all that different from what Steve did when he came back, except the part about developers.