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Google has announced a major update that will see thousands – potentially even millions – of accounts permanently deleted if they have not been used since 2021. The purge will include Gmail, Drive and Photos accounts that have not been used or signed into for at least two years. In a blog post announcing the update, Google said the new policy was primarily for security reasons, as older accounts are typically more vulnerable to threats like spam, phishing scams and hijacking. “Our internal analysis shows abandoned accounts are at least 10x less likely than active accounts to have 2-step verification set up,” the post stated. “Meaning, these accounts are often vulnerable, and once an account is compromised, it can be used for anything from identity theft to a vector for unwanted or even malicious content, like spam.” The policy will only apply to personal accounts, with those associated with organisations like schools and businesses safe from being deleted. The tech giant said the update will be in effect from this week, however no accounts will be deleted until December 2023. “We will take a phased approach, starting with accounts that were created and never used again,” Google wrote. “Before deleting an account, we will send multiple notifications over the months leading up to deletion, to both the account email address and the recovery email (if one has been provided).” Users can avoid being caught up in the purge by doing as little as reading an email sent to the account, or watching a YouTube video while logged in. Google hosts billions of user accounts, though it did not make public how many of them are inactive. It follows similar announcements from Twitter, with chief executive and owner Elon Musk recently rolling out a similar policy that will see usernames recycled if they are associated with accounts that have not been used “for several years”. Read More ‘Google is done’: World’s most powerful AI chatbot offers human-like alternative to search engines

It’s a big week for tech earnings, Chevron to buy Hess for $53 billion in another oil megadeal, and other news to start your day.

It’s one of the biggest questions humans have asked themselves since the dawn of time, but we might be closer than ever to understanding how the universe developed the way it did and we all came to be here. Computer simulations are happening all the time in the modern world, but a new study is attempting to simulate the entire universe in an effort to understand conditions in the far reaches of the past. Full-hydro Large-scale structure simulations with All-sky Mapping for the Interpretation of Next Generation Observations (or FLAMINGO for short), are being run out of the UK. The simulations are taking place at the DiRAC facility and they’re being launched with the ultimate aim of tracking how everything evolved to the stage they’re at now within the universe. The sheer scale of it is almost impossible to grasp, but the biggest of the simulations features a staggering 300 billion particles and has the mass of a small galaxy. One of the most significant parts of the research comes in the third and final paper showcasing the research and focuses on a factor known as sigma 8 tension. This tension is based on calculations of the cosmic microwave background, which is the microwave radiation that came just after the Big Bang. Out of their research, the experts involved have learned that normal matter and neutrinos are both required when it comes to predicting things accurately through the simulations. "Although the dark matter dominates gravity, the contribution of ordinary matter can no longer be neglected, since that contribution could be similar to the deviations between the models and the observations,” research leader and astronomer Joop Schaye of Leiden University said. Simulations that include normal matter as well as dark matter are far more complex, given how complicated dark matter’s interactions with the universe are. Despite this, scientists have already begun to analyse the very formations of the universe across dark matter, normal matter and neutrinos. "The effect of galactic winds was calibrated using machine learning, by comparing the predictions of lots of different simulations of relatively small volumes with the observed masses of galaxies and the distribution of gas in clusters of galaxies," said astronomer Roi Kugel of Leiden University. The research for the three papers, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, was undertaken partly thanks to a new code, as astronomer Matthieu Schaller of Leiden University explains. "To make this simulation possible, we developed a new code, SWIFT, which efficiently distributes the computational work over 30 thousand CPUs.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 17, 2023--

Just days after Sam Altman was fired as OpenAI’s CEO, the board might be considering bringing him back, according to reports. Anonymous sources told both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times that the board is considering walking back on its dramatic firing of Mr Altman. Both outlets reported that Microsoft, a prominent investor in the company, was leading the charge to reinstate Mr Altman. The company announced the leadership change on Friday. “Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities,” the company wrote. “The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.” While publicly citing communication issues, behind closed doors, the board and Mr Altman appeared to diverge when it came to OpenAI’s future. Mr Altman was hoping to push development more aggressively than the board, CNN reported. Greg Brockman, the president and cofounder of OpenAI who was asked to leave the board, wrote on X that the operation to upend the leadership happened quickly. Mr Altman was asked to join a video call with the board at noon on Friday and was immediately fired. Mr Brockman was not a part of the video meeting, he said. Twenty minutes later, Mr Brockman was told that he could stay in his role, but was being removed from the board, he wrote. “We too are still trying to figure out exactly what happened,” Mr Brockman wrote. He later announced he was quitting “based on today’s news.” Following his exit, Mr Altman wrote on X: “i loved my time at openai. it was transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit. most of all i loved working with such talented people. will have more to say about what’s next later.” The Times also reported that Mr Altman and Mr Brockman have plans to launch a new startup in the wake of his ouster and are speaking to investors. Those plans have not been made public. Read More OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman ousted as CEO ChatGPT Plus stops signups after major update ChatGPT creator mocks Elon Musk in brutal tweet

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Alphabet Inc. tentatively settled claims that Google Play abuses its control over Android mobile applications, potentially resolving complaints

Chinese e-commerce giants may have eked out another year of sales growth on Singles Day, but the data isn't all encouraging.

Josh Richards is a Canadian influencer and a famous social media personality

GEORGETOWN, Guyana--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 11, 2023--

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