TLDR 2021-07-09

Android users in the US will soon be able to request a Google Pay Balance Card that will allow them to spend their Google Pay balance. The card will be NFC tap-and-pay only. The Google Pay app will allow P2P payments. Users will still be able to transfer their balance to a bank account for free. There are plans to introduce Google Bank Accounts later in the year that will be full-blown digital bank accounts.

Square is making a hardware wallet for bitcoin. CEO Jack Dorsey had told Twitter in June that the company was considering making one. Dorsey is very supportive of bitcoin, so it is not surprising that Square is working towards making bitcoin custody more mainstream. Square customers can already buy and sell bitcoin from Square's Cash App.

Scientists who were testing the effects of virtual reality on mice brains discovered a new type of brain wave that could be involved with learning. It appears that VR causes processing in the brain to occur differently than in real life. The study could lead to changes to what we know about the brain's learning abilities. It may mean that VR could be used as a way to treat learning and memory impairments.

Researchers from Russia cloned a cow and edited its genes to remove beta-lactoglobulin, the main allergen in milk that causes lactose intolerance. Around 70 percent of the world has some form of lactose malabsorption. The team now aims to impregnate a herd with modified embryos to create a generation of cattle that produces lactose-free milk.

Pulse is a logging system for Apple Platforms. It records logs locally and they never leave the device. Screenshots of Pulse running on various Apple devices are available in the article.

Apache Spark is a cluster computing platform that can schedule, distribute, and monitor applications across many worker machines or a computing cluster. This repository contains a comprehensive guide on Spark with information gathered from multiple sources. It can be used as a guide to learn Spark or as reference material.

Facebook executive Fidji Simo has been appointed as the new CEO of Instacart. Simo joined Instacart's board of directors seven months ago. She was formerly the vice-president and head of the Facebook app. Simo is the co-founder of Women in Product, a nonprofit organization for women in product management. Her rise to chief executive likely signals a change in how Instacart will conduct its business.

Biologists from the Central University of Punjab have discovered a new species of moss in Antarctica. It took the scientists five years to confirm that Bryum Bharatiensis was a completely new species. They named the moss after Bharati, the Hindu goddess of learning. It mainly grows in areas where penguins breed in large numbers, using the nitrogen in the penguin manure as food. The scientists still haven't determined how the moss survives without sunlight in extremely low temperatures.