The Daily Populous

Wednesday September 20th, 2017 night edition

image for Apple cuts cookies – but there is more to come in the online advertising arms race

Apple is cutting down on how many cookies advertisers can force on to your devices, with changes coming to iPhones, iPads and Macs.

The cookie has humble origins, as a small file that a website could drop on a user’s computer when it needed to remember something specific about them.

That could be the contents of a shopping trolley, or the username they used to log in last time they visited the website.

But as the web became more complex, so did the uses of cookies.

This is what Apple is beginning to block with its latest update, and it has caused an almighty freakout from advertisers, who called the move “sabotage” in an open letter.

But this is an arms race, and cookies are just one battlefield.

Those are all subsets of the broader field of “fingerprinting”, which allows advertisers to go far beyond simple cookies in tracking a given user around the web. »

Doctors Discover Gene That Makes Someone A Florida Fan Is The Same One That Makes People Think It’s Ok To Go Shirtless To An Olive Garden

Authored by kentuckysportsradio.com
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Human genome researchers announced on Monday that they were finally able to isolate the gene that causes someone to cheer for the University of Florida.

While this discovery has DNA researchers excited about the possibilities, they did say there were still limitations to what they could uncover.

To keep up with The New Circle Circular, like the Facebook page or follow Harold Leeder’s Twitter Account. »

Solar-to-Fuel System Recycles CO2 to Make Ethanol and Ethylene

Authored by newscenter.lbl.gov
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“As rising atmospheric CO2 levels change Earth’s climate, the need to develop sustainable sources of power has become increasingly urgent.

That sun-to-fuel path is among the key goals of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), a DOE Energy Innovation Hub established in 2010 to advance solar fuel research.

Another research group at Berkeley Lab is tackling this challenge by focusing on a specific component in a photovoltaic-electrochemical system. »

Spanish police storm Catalan government buildings to stop independence referendum

Authored by independent.co.uk

Spanish national police have stormed ministries and buildings belonging to Catalonia's regional government to put a stop to the region's independence referendum.

The arrests come as the mayors of Catalan towns who back the referendum were yesterday questioned by state prosecutors.

Speaking at lunchtime Carles Puigdemont, the president of the Catalonian government, said the Spanish government had “de facto suspended” home rule in the province. »

Russia is reportedly going around sanctions and supplying North Korea with fuel

Authored by businessinsider.com
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Changing a ship's destination once underway is not forbidden, and it is unclear whether any of the ships unloaded fuel in North Korea.

On June 1, the US Treasury Department included IPC on its sanctions blacklist, saying it provided oil to North Korea and may have been involved in circumventing sanctions.

Russia's foreign ministry did not respond to questions about fuel exports to North Korea but has said Russia complies with the sanctions. »