TLDR 2020-08-27

Spotify is implementing a feature that will connect artists with their fans through ticketed live virtual music events. Live performances are a significant source of income for musicians and many artists have struggled to perform this year with live events canceled or banned due to health concerns. Spotify already works with major ticketing partners, many who have embraced virtual events as a way to continue their businesses during the pandemic. A screenshot is available in the article showing an upcoming virtual event for artist BTS on September 19.

Neuralink will demonstrate a working device on August 28. The device is likely to be a brain-machine interface. Elon Musk has also promised a demo of neurons firing in real-time at the event. Neuralink's goal is to connect to the brain in a non-invasive way to merge human brains with AI. A special robot was created to attach the company's technology to the brain. The second generation of the robot will be unveiled at the event.

Scientists have been able to place humans into biostasis for the first time by replacing a person's blood with a very cold saline solution, rapidly cooling the person's body to about 10 to 15 degrees Celsius. The technique was developed to give doctors more time to work with patients who have acute trauma. Putting the body into biostasis slows down or stops all chemical reactions, which means the body's cells need less oxygen. It is unknown how long humans can safely remain in biostasis.

Jacques Consteau was a legendary explorer and oceanographer who led a series of underwater habitat missions several decades ago. His grandson, Fabien, is leading a project to build the world's largest underwater research station. Proteus will be located at a depth of 60 feet in an area off the coast of Curaçao. The station will allow scientists to study the ocean for 10 to 12 hours a day, with continuous access to deeper waters. Divers staying at Proteus will be able to remain in underwater habitats for an indefinite amount of time without risking decompression sickness. Proteus will feature an opening at the bottom of the habitat that will allow divers to enter and exit through a pressurized chamber. Building the structure will present many challenges and cost an estimated $135 million.

Arwes is a web framework for building science fiction and cyberpunk styled user interfaces for web applications. It is built on top of React, JSS, Anime, and Howler. The website itself is a demo.

Ztext creates 3D typography for any website and font using HTML attributes or JavaScript. It is easy to integrate Ztext with CSS animations and transitions. Ztext works for SVG, emoji, and images. Examples are available on the website.

Fortnite players on iOS or macOS won't be able to play the new season when it arrives as the game is still banned from Apple's App Store. A judge has allowed Apple to leave Fortnite off the App Store but has prevented Apple from removing all of Epic's developer accounts, including the account linked with Epic's Unreal Engine. Any Apple device with Fortnite already installed can continue to run the app but won't be able to receive any updates for it. A court hearing on September 28 will make more permanent decisions on the case. Apple has said that it will bring Fortnite back to the App Store if Epic complies with the App Store guidelines.

Belarus, Europe's last dictatorship, went almost entirely offline for 72 hours in early August and then again for an hour on August 26. The outages were used to disrupt communications across the protesting nation. Encrypted chat app Telegram has been used widely to disseminate information and organize protests in the country. The protests began after the country's leader claimed to have won an election by a landslide victory. While the government claimed the internet went down due to DDoS attacks on government infrastructure, investigations found that the internet went down via a method called Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) instead. Telegram was able to function as DPI attacks target domains and Telegram uses IP addresses.