Technology

Google Docs adds a feature we thought it already had: non-printing characters

Google is adding a feature to Google Docs that lets you see non-printing characters such as spaces, tabs, and various types of breaks, the company announced in a blog post on Monday. The option, which will be available in the View menu, can help make editing a document easier by showing you exactly how its

Meta’s new ad system addresses allegations that it enabled housing discrimination

Meta’s launching a new ad distribution system in the US as part of the settlement it reached with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) last year. In an announcement on its site, Meta says its new Variance Reduction System (VRS) will create a more “equitable distribution of ads” on the company’s platforms, addressing claims that

YouTube will start sharing ad money with Shorts creators on February 1st

YouTube has announced that creators can start making ad revenue on Shorts starting February 1st, following a promise from September that the monetization option was on its way. The change is coming as part of a broader update to YouTube’s Partner Program, which will require everyone who’s currently part of it to sign new agreement

How to Measure Ripples in Spacetime

Around 1.8 billion years ago, in a distant galaxy, two vast black holes spiraled into each other, and their cataclysmic merger sent ripples through the very fabric of the universe. On August 14, 2017, those ripples in spacetime—called gravitational waves—washed over Earth, where they were detected by a newly upgraded facility in the Italian countryside.The

It’s Time to Teach AI How to Be Forgetful

Our brain has evolved to make predictions and explanations in unstable and ill-defined situations. For instance, to understand a novel situation, the brain generates a single explanation on the fly. If this explanation is upturned by additional information, a second explanation is generated. Machine learning, on the other hand, typically takes a different path: It sees

What China’s Covid Crisis Means for the Rest of the World

The fear is that the sudden spread of Covid through a new population with relatively little prior exposure to the virus will lead to the emergence of a new “supervariant”—one that has the potential to change the face of the pandemic like the Alpha, Delta, and Omicron forms of the virus did before. But whether

How to Stop Falling Asleep on the Couch During Movies

I’ve watched the first half of a billion movies. This is how a typical movie night goes for me: After eating too many fries from Rocketbird and washing it down with a couple of beers, I’m swaddled in a plush blanket, horizontal on the couch, and zonked out long before Michelle Yeoh reaches the hotdog finger

The UK counts down to its first ever orbital satellite launch

Story by Ioanna Lykiardopoulou Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she's all about shifting perspectives. Ioanna is a writer at SHIFT. She likes the transition from old to modern, and she's all about shifting perspectives. The first ever orbital satellite launch from the UK — and Europe