GRUBBRR works with BlueStar to Meet Growing Demand for Commerce Automation Solutions Post-COVID – Digital Signage Connection

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BOCA RATON, FLA., AUGUST 05, 2020 GRUBBRR, a commerce automation company at the forefront of omni-channel ordering, is working with BlueStar, a leading global distributor of numerous solution-based technologies. BlueStar brings capabilities to enable GRUBBRR the ability to begin to scale up and meet the rising demand for self-ordering solutions, while GRUBBRR helps to provide BlueStar customers with unique solutions to market.

GRUBBRR has been looking to improve efficiencies and meet demand while continuing to innovate and introduce new product offerings for Quick Service and Fast Casual Restaurants and other hospitality verticals including stadiums, entertainment facilities, casinos, hotels, micro-markets and retail. BlueStars distribution and custom services will help GRUBBRR more effectively pursue these goals.

The world was already moving towards automation, COVID-19 just accelerated the need for this technology, said Sam Zietz, CEO of GRUBBRR. BlueStar is the perfect partner given their vast and efficient distribution capabilities, and this partnership will allow us to efficiently scale our offerings to the businesses across the country who need our commerce automation products as part of their re-opening strategies.

BlueStar is a Solutions-based distributor seeking to offer its customers complete solutions which can be taken to market and not just individual pieces of hardware. GRUBBRR will work with BlueStar for ready-to-go self-ordering solutions. BlueStar distributes much of the hardware used in GRUBBRR products, and now will have access to the software that can transform those products from simple hardware into automation solutions.

BlueStar represents the best of hardware and software providers, and they do their due diligence for their customers, said Zietz. It is significant that, in the landscape of our commerce automation competitors, BlueStar found GRUBBRR to offer the premiere solutions for the post-COVID world.

The demand for Kiosk and Contactless ordering is accelerating. As a Solutions Distributor, it is in our DNA to work with an ecosystem of vendors and software companies to provide actionable solutions to fill the fast paced needs of a marketplace, states Dean Reverman, Global Marketing Manager for BlueStar. GRUBBRR is a part of our TEConnect program which fosters relationships between vendors, in this case Elo, and distribution to enable solution development, promotion and fulfillment. Working together and leveraging each others strengths benefits the community and Channel as we collectively seek to address the critical needs of those businesses looking to reopen in a safe and thoughtful way.

The solutions provided are an intuitively sensible combination of resources that allows each to maximize efficiency in creating and distributing commerce automation solutions to a wide variety of industries. For more information, visithttp://www.GRUBBRR.com.

About GRUBBRR:Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, GRUBBRR is a technology company that delivers self-ordering solutions for small to large companies across different verticals including QSR Restaurants, Fast-Casual Restaurants, Cafes, Bakeries, Stadiums, Movie Theaters, Casinos, Micro Markets, Retailers, Amusement and Entertainment Centers, and Golf Courses. Offerings include self-service kiosks, contactless ordering, point-of-sale systems mobile ordering, online ordering, tableside ordering, food lockers, curbside delivery, and other services intended to materially increase business efficiency. To learn more about GRUBBRR and the companys offers, please visit:http://www.grubbrr.com.

About BlueStar:BlueStar is the leading global distributor of solutions-based Digital Identification, Mobility, Point-of-Sale, RFID, Digital Signage, Networking and Security technology. BlueStar works exclusively with value-added resellers to provide complete solutions, business development and marketing support. The company brings unequaled expertise to the market, offers award-winning technical support and is an authorized service center for a growing number of manufacturers. BlueStar is the exclusive distributor for the In-a-Box Solutions Series, delivering hardware, software and critical accessories in one bundle with technology solutions across all verticals. For more information, please contact BlueStar at 1-800-354-9776 or visithttp://www.bluestarinc.com.

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GRUBBRR works with BlueStar to Meet Growing Demand for Commerce Automation Solutions Post-COVID - Digital Signage Connection

Pax8 Gives MSPs Access to LionGuard Automation Platform – Channelnomics

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August 6, 2020

By Jeffrey Burt

Channel partners of cloud-based distributor Pax8 are getting access to Liongards Road platform, which enables MSPs to gain better visibility into their end customers systems whether theyre deployed on premises or in the cloud.

The Lowdown: The two companies this week announced a partnership that will give MSPs access to configuration data both historical and up-to-date of a customers entire IT stack and speed up processes and issue resolution.

The Details: The technology from LionGard, a five-year-old company based in Houston, enables MPS to automatically document, audit, and secure customer systems.

Benefits include:

>APIs into more than 30 vendors to ensure documentation is up-to-date.>Capturing historical data to help with troubleshootingA custom alerting system that lets MSPs be proactive in dealing with issues.>Data exportability features for reporting>Integration into Microsoft 365, Azure AD, and Azure public cloud.>Integrations into AutoTask, Datto, ConnectWise, Kaseya, BitDefender, StorageCraft, Veeam, and Webroot.

The Impact: The capabilities in LionGards platform helps build trust between MSPs and their clients, reduces user errors, and enables IT service providers to more efficiently manage systems at scale.

Background: The partnership with Pax8 comes less than three months after the company raised $17 million in Series B funding, bringing up the total amount raised by LionGard to almost $23 million since its founding in 2015 by CEO Joe Alapat and COO Vincent Tran. The company serves both MSPs and IT companies in more than 20 countries and has seen the number of customers triple over the past 18 months and the number of companies supporting the platform double in that time.

The Buzz: To keep pace with ever-changing IT requirements, we are excited to offer Liongard to MSPs, said Ryan Walsh, chief channel officer at Pax8. Liongards strong, trusted platform enables MSPs to have greater visibility into how their systems are managed. With its capabilities, the solution gives our partners a competitive edge.

Liongard and Pax8 share a similar goal of propelling our partners forward through innovative, intuitive technology that enables greater efficiency and profitability, said Mark Sokol, vice president of marketing at Liongard. Were thrilled with this partnership and what it means for MSPs.

Related Links: CHANNELNOMICS:>Pax8 Hooks Up with RingCentral for UCaaS>Pax8 Bolsters Email Security Services for MSPs>Pax8 Brings CloudJumper, Microsoft Solution to MSPs

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Pax8 Gives MSPs Access to LionGuard Automation Platform - Channelnomics

US bishops renew call for abolition of nuclear weapons | News Headlines – Catholic Culture

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Catholic World News

July 31, 2020

Continue to this story on USCCB

CWN Editor's Note: This week we are observing the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9, 1945, the president of the US bishops conference said. My brother bishops and I mourn with the Japanese people for the innocent lives that were taken and the generations that have continued to suffer the public health and environmental consequences of these tragic attacks.

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Caribbean Observes 186th Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery – caribbeannationalweekly.com

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GEORGETOWN-Guyana -The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will observe the 186th anniversary of the abolition of slavery on Saturday, with the chairman of the regional integration movement, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves saying that this years observance is taking on a greater international significance.

Gonsalves said that all, all but two of the CARICOM countries commemorate and celebrate Emancipation Day on August 1st .

The overwhelming majority of the population of CARICOM member-countries are of African descent. Joyously, people of all ethnicities in CARICOM join in commemorating and celebrating Emancipation Day; all rightfully claim this historic day as their own.

Gonsalves said the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement has gone global in a massive way consequent upon the popular resistance in the United States of America to racism, racial inequality, racial injustice and oppression and the uplifting fight for liberty, justice, and equality in every material respect.

He said the world is half-way through the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015- 2024), which was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in a Resolution (68/237), adopted on December 23, 2013; and focused on the theme People of African Descent: Recognition, Justice, and Development.

The gathering pace of the international movement for Reparations for Native Genocide and the Enslavement of Africans in the Caribbean, Africa, Latin America, Europe and North America, to provide appropriate recompense for the legacy of under-development consequent upon native genocide and

The joinder of the struggle for reparations with the quest for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, and designed as a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030, he said.

He said the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has adversely affected, disproportionately, poor communities and countries, especially those already ravaged by developmental inequities and distortions, traced substantially to the legacy of under-development to native genocide and the enslavement of Africans.

Gonsalves said he was urging all in CARICOM to focus on reparations for the enslavement of Africans on Emancipation Day.

In our region, and elsewhere, we need to have a more thorough-going public education programme on the meaning and significance of reparatory justice for the Caribbean. Further, our governments must ramp up the political, diplomatic, and international legal struggle for reparations. All hands are required on deck as a matter of urgency.

He said CARICOM has established a Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Reparatory Justice headed by the Prime Minister of Barbados. CARICOM has set up, too, a CARICOM Reparations Commission, chaired by Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies.

Gonsalves said the Commission has advanced a 10-point CARlCOM Reparations Agenda which has been adopted by the CARICOM leaders and that in each country, a National Reparations Commission has been established with broad-based representation.

Solid ground work has been done thus far, but we must not lose any momentum or be side-tracked. The circumstances are now propitious for escalating a coordinated push for reparatory justice. And CARICOM must engage the African Union fully on this.

He said recently, several CARICOM member-states have been strengthening their links with Africa in profound ways; so, too, CARICOM and the African Union.

Much more is required to be done, and urgently, too. At the United Nations Security Council, a new institutional linkage of much consequence has been forged known as the A3 Plus One (the African 3: Niger, South Africa, and Tunisia, Plus St. Vincent and the Grenadines) ; this represents a collaboration between the regions of continental Africa and a representative country (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) of the sixth region of the African Union, namely the African diaspora.

Gonsalves said that a high quality of abundant research has been done and published, on Reparations for Native Genocide and the Enslavement of Africans.

More is still required to be done, but there is more than enough for us to proceed upon in our many-sided struggle. So, let us highlight reparatory justice on Emancipation Day, 2020, even as the individual countries in CARICOM engage in commemorative and celebratory activities of a cultural, social, political, and religious nature, he added.

He also urged the Caribbean to remember that June 13, this year was the 40th anniversary of the assassination of the Guyanese-born academic, Walter Rodney.

No one has yet been brought to court for the killing of Walter. The next government of Guyana must address this matter fully; it is a gaping wound in our collective consciousness which must be healed, Gonsalves said.

CMC

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Chinas Space Silk Road reaches Mars and beyond – Asia Times

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Most geopolitical analysis is pretty down to Earth. But dont forget to look up: Chinas influence is rocketing above the heavens.

On July 23, a Long March 5 rocket blasted off from the Wenchen Launch Center on Chinas Hainan Island. Equipped with a lander, an orbiter and a rover, the Chinese Tianwen-1 spacecraft has set course for Mars to begin a comprehensive survey of the Red Planet.

The Mars mission, however, is not solely about discovery. It forms part of a comprehensive strategy designed to propel China to the ranks of fully developed, rich and powerful nations by the year 2049.

As President Xi Jinping explained to Taikonauts aboard the Tiangong-1, Chinas first prototype space station back in 2013, the space dream is part of the dream to make China stronger.Xis China is no longer hiding capabilities and keeping a low profile, its striving for achievement, he said at the time.

Under Xis command, the Peoples Republic has launched two prototype space stations (Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2), as well as a cargo ship (Tianzhou) able to refuel other spacecraft.

In 2018, it fired more rockets into the cosmos than any other nation. A year later, China made history when the Change 4 successfully landed the first rover on the dark side of the Moon.

Closer to home, the BeiDou 2 navigation system recently launched its 35th satellite, completing its sprawling constellation that promises to provide global coverage as an alternative to Americas GPS and Europes Galileo Positioning System.

If Tianwen-1 successfully reaches Mars, China will join the US and former Soviet Union as the only nations to have achieved such a space feat.

Unlike NASA and other space agencies whose stated goals are to conduct space exploration for the advancement of science, Chinas space program is more concerned with economic gains, geostrategic positioning and supporting development goals.

By 2040, the space industry is forecast to be worth $2.7 trillion, according to a recent report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. China clearly plans to capitalize on this projection.

While the most significant short- and medium-term opportunities may come from satellite broadband internet access, the future is poised to see space mining emerge as a profitable industry.

A small asteroid roughly 200 meters in length that is rich in platinum could fetch up to $30 billion, one projection estimates. The Moon possesses hundreds of billions of dollars worth of untapped resources including helium-3, titanium, and other rare earth metals.

Chinese researchers like Lin Mingtao are already working under the National Space Science Center to capture a near-Earth asteroid and bring it back to China to inspect and extract its resources.

Beijing also has big plans for the Moon. According to state news agency Xinhua, The China National Space Administration (CNAS) intends to establish a research station on the lunar surface within the next decade.

If China succeeds in building a Moon base with industrial capacity, it could significantly lower the costs of launching spacecraft and serve as a gateway for future space exploration.

But Chinas space ambitions dont stop there. By 2022, China aims to have a fully operational space station orbiting Earth.

There are also plans to launch a variety of solar power plants into low-Earth orbit engineered to beam electricity back to China. Beijing is also working to develop nuclear-powered spaceships by 2040, which will conceivably enable deep space travel.

All told, China is building a Space Silk Road. Within the framework of Xis signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) this new cosmic corridorcomplements its earthly Maritime and Land Silk Roads.

As this galactic architecture takes form, Beijing intends to offer the international community an alternate credible infrastructure network, thereby competing for global leadership in space.

At the same time, the space program is also intertwined with Made in China 2025, a policy designed to catapult China to becoming a global leader in high-tech manufacturing.

The Space Silk Road provide a new pathway to enhance Chinas indigenous innovation capabilities in fields like quantum communications, robotics, artificial intelligence, and aviation.

Accordingly, it also promotes civil-military fusion and the development of dual-use technologies: For example, while BeiDou can help navigate a ship through stormy waters, it can also guide a missile.

In modern warfare, space capability can help attain a geopolitical edge, military competitiveness and technological development, said Michael Raska, assistant professor at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies of Nanyang Technological University of Singapore. China is seeking all three as it embarks on the journey to great space power status, he said to regional media.

Ye Peijian, the head of the Chinese lunar exploration program, has provided some insight as to how Chinas Communist Party views space.

The universe is an ocean, the Moon is the Diaoyu Islands, Mars is Huangyan Island. If we dont go there now even though were capable of doing so, then we will be blamed by our descendants, Ye told reporters in 2017.

If others go there, then they will take over, and you wont be able to go even if you want to. This is reason enough.

Dale Aluf is the director of research and strategy at SIGNAL, Sino-Israel Global Network & Academic Leadership a member of Chinas Silk Road Think Tank Association SRTA.

Asia Times Financialis now live. Linking accurate news, insightful analysis and local knowledge with the ATF China Bond 50 Index, the world'sfirst benchmark cross sector Chinese Bond Indices.Read ATFnow.

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Chinas Space Silk Road reaches Mars and beyond - Asia Times

Wawa launches new Kids Meals that come with an entree, side and trading cards – pennlive.com

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Wawa has added Kids Meals to its 900 stores that include a choice of entrees and sides along with trading cards featuring the Wally Goose mascot.

The entree selections include a Junior hoagie with turkey, ham, roast beef or cheese; a small mac and cheese; cheese quesadilla; chicken strips; small meatballs; or chicken noodle soup. The side choices are apple slices, yogurt, mozzarella string cheese, chips or a chocolate chip cookie along with water, milk or chocolate milk.

The meals cost from $3.99 to $5.99.

In a news release, chief product marketing officer Mike Sherlock said, Were excited to add Kids Meals to our menu as it now, more than ever, allows Wawa to become a lunch and dinner destination for the entire family.

Parents or guardians can select their preferred menu items and order Kids Meals for children, all while preserving the experience of eating together as one family.

The meals include a pack of three Adventures of Wally Goose trading cards.

Cards show Wally sharing favorite activities that children can also enjoy, including: jumping rope, playing sports, coloring, fort-building, cooking, scavenger hunting, acting, experimenting, bike riding, dancing, reading, imagining, chalking and pretend playing. Special-edition hologram cards are also mixed into packs featuring facts about flying and space travel.

Kids can collect a total of 18 cards.

Wawa is selling a new Kids Meal that comes with a choice of entree, side and a beverage as well as Wally Goose Trading Cards. (Photo provided by Wawa)

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Wawa launches new Kids Meals that come with an entree, side and trading cards - pennlive.com

Review: ‘Lovecraft Country’ HBO vs. 100 years of racist sci-fi – Los Angeles Times

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That Lovecraft Country, which premieres Aug. 16 on HBO, has something to say about the ordinary horrors of racism as well as the cosmic ones of fantastic fiction is mixed into its foundation.

Matt Ruff, on whose 2016 novel the series is based sometimes closely, sometimes loosely was inspired in part by Pam Noles 2006 essay Shame, about the unbearable whiteness of sci-fi and the difficulties it presents to what she calls a FoP, as in, Fan of Pigment, and in its particulars by The Negro Motorist Green-Book and by James W. Loewens study Sundown Towns, as in get out by. (Ruff is white; series developer Misha Green, who previously wrote for the sci-fi series Heroes and Helix and created Underground, as in Railroad, is Black.)

There is a natural temptation to compare Lovecraft Country to Watchmen which also put Black heroes and Black history at the center of a genre piece and, because Jordan Peele is an executive producer (along with J.J. Abrams and others), to Peeles watershed satirical horror movie Get Out which, like Lovecraft, is a tale of white people using Black people for their own ends. But, while not without interest, Lovecraft is something less than either.

The racism of H.P. Lovecraft, an influential writer of pulp fiction and weird tales, is well-known; indeed, its a point the characters explicitly discuss. The difficulty he and other old-time genre writers present for FoPs, and more enlightened readers of lighter shades, is expressed by Atticus (Jonathan Majors), a Black science-fiction fan and Korean War veteran, to a fellow traveler on a bus home to Chicago. (Theyre in the back of the bus, being Black.) Stories are like people, says Atticus. The author doesnt make them perfect, you just try and cherish them, overlook their flaws. Still, both Ruffs book and Greens series function as much as critique as celebration; the mere fact that the series heroes are all Black is in itself a riposte to the early 20th century author, spitting in his otherwise admired eye.

Jurnee Smollett is a Chicago native headed into another world in HBOs Lovecraft Country.

(Elizabeth Morris / HBO)

Atticus, who is of a serious, somewhat dreamy disposition, has received a letter from his father, Montrose (Michael Kenneth Williams), with whom he has issues, indicating the discovery of a secret legacy, a birthright thats been kept from you in a place Atticus first misreads as Arkham, the fictional Massachusetts town in which Lovecraft set many of his stories. It turns out the town is actually called Ardham, because Arkham is fictional, or more fictional, in the context of the series, but its a moot point: Here Be Monsters, including what looks to be a shoggoth, Lovecrafts own many-eyed blob.

He makes the trek into darkest New England in the company of his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance), a fellow sci-fi fan and publisher of the Green Book"-inspired Safe Negro Travel Guide, and childhood friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett), whom the series promotes to a love interest for Atticus, not wanting the attractiveness of its leads to go to waste.

When, having braved racist townspeople, a racist gas station attendant, racist cops and the aforementioned blob, they finally come to the Gothic pile where they expect to find Montrose, they are greeted by a troika of characters (Tony Goldwyn, Abbey Lee, Jordan Patrick Smith) so pop culturally Aryan that one expects them to break any minute into a chorus of Tomorrow Belongs to Me. There are secret doors, magic spells and the familiar sight of rich old jerks in monkish robes conducting quasi-religious rites in the pursuit of unimagined power and some decadent idea of purity. Classic and evergreen.

This is only an opening chapter. Ruffs book is constructed as a set of linked short stories, and the series too has a semi-anthological structure that plays with different sorts of stories and moods a haunted house, an underground quest, ancient texts, magical space travel in and among the merely human intrigue, squabbling, family business and love stuff. (Even the chosen one status Atticus is accorded I was going to write enjoys, but suffers is closer to the mark in the opening episodes subsequently fades.) Only the first five episodes, of 10, are out for review; so far, there is a substantial enough resemblance to the novel to suggest that the series will follow its arc, even as there are differences enough to suggest that it might not.

Jonathan Majors plays a young man with a special destiny in the HBO series Lovecraft Country.

(Elizabeth Morris/HBO)

There are departures from the page; fans of the novel, and I know they will be in the minority of viewers, will note some gender swapping, some new sexual identities. There is not much in the way of sex, or sexual identity, in the book, but this is premium cable television and so ... there is. And Green has made sure to interpolate or amplify other sorts of action car chases, gun battles, flooding underground passageways, decapitation to keep things lively. Smollett is especially good at taking a heroic stance. She is the character you most dont want to mess with, though its Wunmi Mosaku, as her economically frustrated sister Ruby, who makes the greater impression, in a transmogrification storyline. (Jamie Neumann is also fine as the Hyde to her Jekyll, or maybe the other way around.) Ruby sings the blues, too, and rhythm & blues, and Mosaku should be first in line for the Sister Rosetta Tharpe biopic you can put on your schedule now, studio heads.

But the series can also feel overheated, over-motivated, muddled and unsubtle, and not just because every single white character is trouble, if not implausibly so, on a scale from casually clueless to actively evil. Its emotional volume has a way of drowning out its humor. Watchmen could be kind of a conceptual mess too, but it was impossible to miss its ambition even its daffy obscurity had a way of coming across as gravitas and arriving when it did in the life of the nation, it seemed to be not merely a harbinger of rising consciousness, but a contributor to it. Lovecraft Country has a sense of timeliness as well. When police arrive at the scene of a disturbance, the Black crowd adopts a hands up, dont shoot posture; taken into custody, Letitia is subjected to the sort of bruising police van ride that led to the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore in 2015.

There is much of interest in Lovecraft. The set pieces are well done: Some money and care has been expended on staging, not just as regards the spookier special effects, but on some very nice period work, creating a corner of mid-1950s Chicago that feels inhabited and inhabitable; party and bar scenes are well-populated and choreographed. The monster attacks, crazy dream sequences, scenes that borrow with no embarrassment from Raiders of the Lost Ark and the places Raiders borrowed from, all work as theyre meant to.

We need to follow the logic of adventure novels, Montrose declares at a critical junction, and they do.

Lovecraft Country

Where: HBO

When: 9 p.m. Aug. 16

Rated: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17)

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Review: 'Lovecraft Country' HBO vs. 100 years of racist sci-fi - Los Angeles Times

Patents need to cover Hong Kong and Macau? Here’s the procedure. – Lexology

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Although a standard patent application can be filed directly with Hong Kong and Macau IP directories, there are routes more convenient for obtaining patent protection in these two Chinese territories.

Extension of a patent application to Hong Kong

A standard patent can be obtained by extending a Chinese patent into Hong Kong. The extension procedure includes a two-stage recordation request, one occurs at the publication of the Chinese patent application and the other at the grant of the Chinese patent, each within 6 months from the publication or grant date. The Chinese patent/application has to be a patent type, instead of a utility model, and can be a national phase of a PCT application filed in any of the receiving offices.

The Hong Kong standard patent will have a patent term of 20 years starting from the application date of the Chinese patent and independent from the validity of the Chinese patent. That is to say, a Hong Kong standard patent can only be invalidated by filing a cancelation in Hong Kong separately, even if the corresponding Chinese patent is invalidated in Mainland China.

In addition to a Chinese patent, a European or United Kingdom patent can also serve as the parent patent for extending into Hong Kong, and follows the same procedure as stated above in reference to a Chinese patent.

Extension of a Chinese patent application to Macau

The extension procedure in Macau is similar to that of a Hong Kong standard patent originating from a Chinese patent, but a European or United Kingdom patent is not eligible for the extension.

However, Macau provides a more convenient route to extend a Chinese patent into Macau, i.e., extending a Chinese patent into Macau within 3 months from the grant date of the Chinese patent without the need of filing a first-stage extension request at the time of the publication of the Chinese application.

It should be note that, although Macau was a colony of the Portuguese empire, a Portugal or European patent is not eligible for patent extension into Macau, and the extension procedure applies to Chinese patent only.

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Patents need to cover Hong Kong and Macau? Here's the procedure. - Lexology

Greece records more than 5000 coronavirus infections – Macau Business

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Greece on Thursday recorded more than 5,000 coronavirus cases after a spurt in new infections that sparked a wake-up week.

The national public health organisation announced 153 cases over the last 24 hours, raising the total to over 5,100. There have been 210 deaths so far.

The highest amount of daily cases announced was 156 on April 21, following a mass outbreak at a migrant hotel near Athens.

Greece on Wednesday announced a wake-up week on COVID-19, tightening restrictions after the steady rise in mostly domestic infections.

Officials have blamed the increase on overcrowding in clubs and social events.

Only 10 percent of cases in Greece can be traced to foreign arrivals, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

We have located three sources of concern: very regular crossings from Balkan countries by ethnic Greeks and residence permit holders social gatherings, including clubbing youths, weddings and baptisms, and public transport, Petsas said.

The public protection agency last week said masks must be worn in all indoor public areas, and visits to retirement homes and other institutions hosting vulnerable groups are restricted until August 15.

A limit of 100 guests was also set for weddings, baptisms and funerals, and summer fairs were cancelled.

Mitsotakis has already ruled out a general lockdown after gradually reopening the economy in May and starting to accept foreign arrivals in June to salvage part of the tourism season that is vital to the economy.

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Egypt and Greece ink exclusive economic zone deal – Macau Business

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Egypt and Greece signedan agreement Thursday to set up an exclusive economic zone in the eastern Mediterranean amid regional tensions over energy resources in the area.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry announced the deal, which delineates the maritime borders of both countries, at a Cairo news conference alongside his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias.

It comes after Turkey last year signed a deal with the UN-recognised government in Libya on maritime jurisdiction, with several countries accusing Ankara of trying to assert its dominance in the region.

The deal allows Egypt and Greece to move forward in maximising the benefits of the available resources in the exclusive economic zone for each of them, especially oil and gas reserves, Shoukry said.

Dendias described it as historic.

This agreement is the exact opposite of anything illegitimate like what was signed between Turkey and Tripoli, he added.

Turkey reacted angrily to the deal inked in Cairo.

The so-called maritime deal signed by Greece and Egypt is null and void, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

The so-called delimited areas are part of Turkeys continental shelf, it said, adding that Ankara would not allow any activity in those areas.

Egypt, Cyprus and Greece have denounced a contentious deal, including a security agreement, signed last year between Ankara and the embattled Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA).

Greece said at the time that it ignored the maritime boundaries of Crete.

Ankara backs the Tripoli-based GNA in its battle against eastern-based Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, who last year launched an offensive to seize the capital.

Earlier this year, forces loyal to the GNA pushed Haftars fighters, who are backed by countries including Egypt and Russia, from much of western Libya.

The relationship between Egypt and Greece was a major factor in preserving the security and stability of the eastern Mediterranean and facing belligerent policies advancing terrorism, Shoukry said.

Earlier on Thursday, Athens said it was ready for talks with Ankara on disputed maritime zones in the Aegean, weeks after tension spiked between the NATO allies over energy exploration.

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Millions of America’s working poor may lose out on key anti-poverty tax credit because of the pandemic – The Conversation US

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The pandemic is driving American families to the edge, with tens of millions at risk of losing their homes and over 1 in 10 U.S. adults reporting their households didnt have enough to eat in the previous week.

While Congress debates extending unemployment benefits that expired on July 31 and other additional aid, theres an important program that already exists that could help struggling Americans get through the crisis however long it lasts. Known as the earned income tax credit, or EITC, it provides aid primarily to the working poor. In a typical year, it lifts more than 8.5 million people out of poverty, while improving the health and well-being of parents and children.

Since the credit depends on earned income, many families may be at risk of losing all or some of the benefit because so many were laid off as economies in many states shut down. Even as restaurants and other businesses reopen, its likely that many of those who lost their jobs will remain unemployed or underemployed for many months or longer.

Our own research shows changes to the structure of the U.S. economy, with the sharp growth of low-wage and unstable jobs, is weakening the EITCs effectiveness at fighting poverty.

Some lawmakers are trying to reform the EITC as part of the next coronavirus bailout to ensure it helps more Americans and make it more like a basic income guarantee. We believe doing so would not only ensure low-income Americans continue to have access to this vital tax credit during the pandemic, additional changes could also strengthen the program for years to come.

The earned income tax credit, which supplements earnings for many low- and moderate-income workers, has helped buffer economic hardship for single parents and other recipients since it was created in 1975.

Eligible taxpayers receive the credit after they file their taxes. And unlike a deduction, even those who didnt pay any income tax can receive the credit, which theyll get as part of their refund. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia also offer their own EITCs, typically based on the federal credit.

In 2019, taxpayers received about US$63 billion in credits through the federal EITC, making it the governments largest cash safety net program for working families with children. Recipients qualify for the credit based on how much money they earn and depending on their marital status and number of children. The benefit rises with each dollar earned until reaching a peak and then phasing out.

For example, in 2019, a single person earning $13,545 a year received $392, while a typical family of four with an annual income of $22,261 received roughly $2,951 which comes out to an extra $250 a month.

Put another way, a family with one child receives an average credit of 34 cents for every dollar of earned income, which rises to 40 cents for two and 45 cents for three or more children.

The tax credit has been tremendously successful. In 2018, the latest data available, the EITC lifted about 10.6 million people out of poverty and reduced its severity for another 17.5 million. And since its inception, it has reduced child poverty by 25%.

But the benefits extend well beyond providing struggling families with more income. Research shows the credit has helped improve the mental and physical health of mothers, improves perinatal health of mothers and their children, improves child development, reduces incidents of low birth weight among infants and improves childrens cognitive function.

It also enjoys strong bipartisan support because of its focus on encouraging and supporting working.

But the EITC only helps individuals able to find work, which becomes a bigger challenge in a pandemic or severe recession.

Our unpublished calculations from a national representative survey showed that about a fifth of the 25 million EITC beneficiaries in 2019 lost their jobs from March to April and over 16% remained unemployed in June, the latest data we have available. That means over 4 million working families could lose a large portion of their benefits in 2021, depending on a variety of factors.

While these problems are most obvious in a recession, theyve worsened over the past four decades as the labor market has changed.

The share of workers doing low-skill, low-wage work has jumped from 42% in 1980 to about 54% in 2016. And an increasing number of these jobs are in the precarious gig economy that doesnt provide stable incomes. That means workers are less likely to see a steady aid from the EITC because the maximum benefits are gained when working full time at minimum wage.

The EITCs also provides very little support to those without children. A nonpartisan think tank estimates that about 5.8 million adult workers without any children as dependents are taxed into poverty or impoverished further each year because their EITC is too small to offset their federal income and payroll taxes.

House Democrats are pushing to reform the EITC in the next coronavirus relief bill. Specifically, theyd like to tweak the credits phase-in so that workers receive more benefits for fewer hours worked, allowing those who lost their jobs and remained unemployed for the remainder of 2020 to maintain benefits similar to last year. They also would lower the minimum age for receiving the credit to 18 from 25 for certain vulnerable groups like those experiencing homeless.

Wed suggest also increasing the benefit for tax filers without children and lowering the minimum age for everyone so that the millions of young people graduating from high school and college into an economic recession can get additional support.

These reforms would not only help now but could also deepen the impact of the EITC by creating an income floor for more people as the economy changes, essentially creating something very much like a basic income guarantee. A key difference, however, is that most universal basic income proposals dont require recipients to work.

While we cannot fully predict how interactions between job losses and the tax and benefit system will play out, this moment presents an opportunity to test reforms that would benefit low-income working families for years and decades to come.

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Millions of America's working poor may lose out on key anti-poverty tax credit because of the pandemic - The Conversation US

Could $50 a Week Empower High School Students to Set and Meet Education Goals? This New Orleans School Aims to Find Out – redlakenationnews.com

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Amid the steepest economic decline in recorded U.S. history, there is renewed interest in the concept of universal basic income cash payments to low-income families. Now, with no end to the pandemic yet in sight, a New Orleans high school is poised to carry out a first-of-its-kind small-scale pilot to see whether modest grants to seniors will boost their prospects.

Launched three years ago with the goal of closing the Black-white wealth gap in its students lifetimes, Rooted School hopes to give 52 weekly transfers of $50 via a cash app to 10 members of the Class of 2021, starting in September. In partnership with the New Orleans education innovation incubator 4.0 Schools, which is funding the grants and the study of their effectiveness, Rooteds leaders hope to hire two university researchers to track its results.

The micro-pilot has a goal of graduating students from high school with the job skills to guarantee the economic stability to enable them to stay in college.

Could $50 a Week Empower High School Students to Set and Meet Education Goals? This New Orleans School Aims to Find Out

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Could $50 a Week Empower High School Students to Set and Meet Education Goals? This New Orleans School Aims to Find Out - redlakenationnews.com

Elon Musk claims Neuralink brain chip will allow people to hear sounds impossible to humans – Zee News

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San Francisco: Tesla and SpaceX founder, Elon Musk has claimed that his new pet project Neuralink chip will allow users to hear sounds that previously were impossible to human ears.

Founded, in 2016, Musk has has only held one major public presentation for Neuralink. However, more details about Neuralink will be presented at an event on August 28, Musk had previously said.

The main aim of the project is to provide a direct connection between a brain and a computer to overcome the power of artificial intelligence (AI), using a "sewing machine-like" device to stitch threads to an implanted brain chip.

Musk recently said that Neuralink's brain chip technology would allow people to stream music into their brains effortlessly. Musk confirmed the feature last month over an exchange with a Twitter user who asked: "If we implement Neuralink - can we listen to music directly from our chips? Great feature." Musk replied with a simple, "yes".

He has also confirmed that the chip would be able to control hormone levels, which would have the potential to help with anxiety relief, among other things.

Musk has often criticized the over-reliance on AI and the potential danger it poses. He recently claimed that AI will be 'vastly smarter' than any human and would overtake us by 2025.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in July had announced that its most secretive brain-computer interface technology startup Neuralink will provide a key update on its progress on August 28.

"If you can't beat em, join em Neuralink's mission statement," Musk tweeted on Thursday without divulging much details. "Progress update August 28, " he added.

To help paralysed people control devices and empower people with brain disorders, Neuralink last year unveiled tiny brain "threads" in a chip which is long lasting, usable at home and has the potential to replace cumbersome devices currently used as brain-machine interfaces.

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Elon Musk claims Neuralink brain chip will allow people to hear sounds impossible to humans - Zee News

Elon Musk claims his mysterious brain chip will allow people to hear previously impossible sounds – The Independent

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Elon Musk has revealed more details about his mysterious brain-computer interface startup, claiming it will allow people to hear sounds that were previously beyond their range.

Neuralink's brain chip technology could also help restore movement to someone with a fully severed spinal cord, according to Musk.

The SpaceX and Tesla boss founded Neuralink in 2016 but has only held one major public presentation about how its technology will actually work.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

The ultimate aim is to provide a direct connection between a brain and a computer, using a "sewing machine-like" device to stitch threads to an implanted brain chip.

A research paper published last year in conjunction with the event explained how these threads would connect to a single USB-C cable to provide "full-bandwidth data streaming" to the brain.

In a series of tweets on Thursday, Musk said the technology "could also extend range of hearing beyond normal frequencies and amplitudes."

More details about Neuralink will be presented at an event on 28 August, though Musk has been drip-feeding information about the device's capabilities over Twitter.

Earlier this month, he said that wearers would be able to stream music directly to their brain, as well as use them to regulate hormone levels and deliver "enhanced abilities" like greater reasoning and relief from anxiety.

A robot designed by Neuralink would insert the 'threads' into the brain using a needle

Neuralink

A fully implantable neural interface connects to the brain through tiny threads

Neuralink

Trials of Neuralink's fully implantable neural interface system will begin in 2021

Neuralink

Neuralink says learning to use the device is 'like learning to touch type or play the piano'

Neuralink

A robot designed by Neuralink would insert the 'threads' into the brain using a needle

Neuralink

A fully implantable neural interface connects to the brain through tiny threads

Neuralink

Trials of Neuralink's fully implantable neural interface system will begin in 2021

Neuralink

Neuralink says learning to use the device is 'like learning to touch type or play the piano'

Neuralink

First iterations of Neuralink's device could be used to assist people suffering from neurological disorders and brain diseases like Parkinson's, though ultimately Musk hopes the technology will allow people to compete with artificial intelligence.

The billionaire entrepreneur has frequently warned about the dangers of advanced AI, claiming that it poses one of the greatest existential threats to humanity.

Musk reiterated his fears earlier this week, warning that humans risk being overtaken by AI within the next five years.

"My assessment about why AI is overlooked by very smart people is that very smart people do not think a computer can ever be as smart as they are," he said.

"And this is hubris and obviously false. We are headed toward a situation where AI is vastly smarter than humans and I think that time frame is less than five years from now. But that doesn't mean that everything goes to hell ion five years. It just means that things get unstable and weird."

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Elon Musk claims his mysterious brain chip will allow people to hear previously impossible sounds - The Independent

OODAcast: Bradley Rotter On The Future Of Work, CryptoCurrencies, Quantum Computing and Leadership – OODA Loop

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Bradley Rotter is a visionary investor who has pioneered investments in many new alternative investments classes including having been an early backer of hedge funds in 1982 while speculating on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He was also an early investor in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency ecosystems and at a dinner with OODA CEO Matt Devost in 2012 predicted Bitcoin would exceed the price of gold.

Bradley moved to San Francisco in mid 80s to be close to the technology fountainhead of the Bay Area. In 1995 he was famously quoted saying this internet thing is going to be big and this vision guided his investments in several successful technology companies.

Bradley has made numerous VC and PE investments, with a particular focus on internet and technology and spanning from hedge funds to satellites.

This wide ranging conversation hits on multiple high tech topics including quantum computing, crypto currencies and the data analytics.

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Quantum Computing Sensemaking

Is Quantum Computing Ushering in an Era of No More Secrets?

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OODAcast: Bradley Rotter On The Future Of Work, CryptoCurrencies, Quantum Computing and Leadership - OODA Loop

University of Arizona Awarded $26M to Architect the Quantum Internet – HPCwire

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Aug. 5, 2020 The University of Arizona will receive an initial, five-year, $26 million grant from the National Science Foundation, with an additional five-year $24.6 million option, to establish and lead a new National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center called theCenter for Quantum Networks with core partners Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University.

Laying the Foundations of the Future Quantum Internet

CQN aims to lay the foundations of the quantum internet, which will revolutionize how humankind computes, communicates and senses the world, by creating a fabric to connect quantum computers, data centers and gadgets using their native quantum information states of quantum bits, or qubits. Qubits offer dramatic increases in processing capacity by not just having the 0 or 1 state of the classical bit, but also allowing what is termed a superposition of both states at the same time.

The University of Arizona has been fortunate to attract key talent in quantum optics, materials and information sciences, said University of Arizona PresidentRobert C. Robbins. It is rewarding to see our deep culture of collaboration across campus naturally position us to lead this extremely ambitious project in partnership with amazing institutions across the nation.

In February, the White House National Quantum Coordination Office underscored the importance of the field by issuing A Strategic Vision for Americas Quantum Networks. The document stated, By leading the way in quantum networking, America is poised to revolutionize national and financial security, patient privacy, drug discovery, and the design and manufacturing of new materials, while increasing our scientific understanding of the universe.

Transformative Technology

The transformation of todays internet through quantum technology will spur entirely new tech industries and create an innovation ecosystem of quantum devices and components, service

providers and applications. The potential impact of CQN is so immense, it is almost incalculable, notesSaikat Guha, CQN director and principal investigator and associate professor of optical sciences. What we are proposing to do with CQN is analogous to the critical role played by the ARPANET, the historical precursor to the internet. The pioneering scientists behind the ARPANET could not have possibly imagined the kind of computing, communications and mobile networking capabilities their discoveries would inspire and enable, and CQN aspires to follow in their footsteps to usher the world into the era of quantum networking.

The team at the University of Arizona is led by theJames C. Wyant College of Optical Sciencesand includes theCollege of Engineering, theJames E. Rogers College of Lawand theCollege of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

In recent years, the university has focused heavily on quantum engineering, increasing the breadth and depth of our expertise by hiring across several colleges six additional faculty members specializing in quantum technologies, saidElizabeth Betsy Cantwell, University of Arizona senior vice president for research and innovation. With the strength and innovative approaches of these researchers and our strong culture of industry partnerships to translate cutting-edge technologies to the market, CQN will make significant strides towards ushering in a new era of quantum networking at market scale.

CQN also includes scientific and educational leaders at core partners Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University, in addition to those at Brigham Young University, Howard University, Northern Arizona University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the University of Oregon and the University of Chicago.

A major focus of the CQN team will be research to advance quantum materials and devices, quantum and classical processing required at a network node, and quantum network protocols and architectures. CQN also aims to demonstrate the first U.S.-based quantum network that can distribute quantum information at high speeds, over long distances, to multiple user groups.

As one of the key goals of CQN, we will be creating a versatile Quantum Network Testbed and making it available as a national resource to validate system performance and boost innovation by the scientific and industrial communities alike, saidZheshen Zhang, CQN Testbed co-lead and assistant professor of materials science and engineering.

For the full announcement and additional graphics, visit https://news.arizona.edu/story/university-arizona-awarded-26m-architect-quantum-internet

Source: University of Arizona

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University of Arizona Awarded $26M to Architect the Quantum Internet - HPCwire

Microsofts plan to scrub carbon out of the atmosphere? Quantum computers – Digital Trends

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Quantum computers promise to be game-changers in fields where there are enormously complex calculations to be carried out. Hoping to use quantum computing to address one of humanitys biggest problems climate change investigators from Microsoft Research and ETH Zurich have developed a quantum algorithm they say is able to simulate catalytic processes extremely quickly. In doing so, they claim that it could be used to find an efficient method for carrying out carbon fixation, cutting down on carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by turning it into useful compounds.

At present, synthetic catalytic processes are discovered using laborious trial-and-error lab experiments. Computer simulations are much faster, but modern computers have a difficult job calculating the properties of very complex molecules. By contrast, Microsofts quantum catalytic simulation algorithm reportedly beats existing state-of-the-art algorithms by 10 times; boding well for the transformational possibilities of using quantum computing as a cornerstone of future chemistry.

Our unique approach pushes the boundaries to deliver the promise of quantum computing and to create unprecedented possibilities for our world, Matthias Troyer, distinguished scientist at Microsoft Research, told Digital Trends. Quantum computing is redefining what is possible with technology, creating unprecedented possibilities to solve humanitys most complex challenges. Microsoft is committed to turning the impossible into reality in a responsible way that brings the best solutions to humanity and our planet.

Troyer explained that the advancements in algorithms gained from this research will serve as a springboard for future work. Microsoft is hoping that it will be able to work alongside the chemistry community to find new ways for quantum computers to help develop new chemical processes, molecules, and, eventually someday, materials. The research is available to read via Microsofts blog.

This isnt the first promising quantum algorithm Digital Trends has covered this month. Recently we wrote about a quantum algorithm that could help revolutionize disease diagnosis. However, like all quantum algorithms, it is going to rely on quantum computers advancing sufficiently in order for researchers to be able to gain the most benefit from it. The hardware this will require is another topic Microsoft discusses in the research paper on this work.

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Microsofts plan to scrub carbon out of the atmosphere? Quantum computers - Digital Trends

Meet The Scrappy Space Startup Taking Quantum Security Into Space – Forbes

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Loft Orbital is helping take quantum security into space

What do you get when you combine space, lasers, photons, the laws of physics, a Fortune 100 company, the Canadian Space Agency and a scrappy space startup?

The answer, it is hoped, will be a revolution in encrypted communications. Or, at least, the start of one: a mission to test quantum security in space. Why might you want to do that? Let me explain, with the help of a scrappy space startup and a seriously clued-up quantum security boffin.

The Fortune 100 company involved here is Honeywell, the prime contractor for the Canadian Space Agency's Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite mission, QEYSSat. The aim? Quite simply to put space-based quantum key distribution (QKD) to the test. More of that in a moment, but first, let's meet the scrappy space startup.

Loft Orbital is a company that specializes in deploying and operating space infrastructure as a service. Using its Payload Hub technology, Loft Orbital takes a "Yet Another Mission" or YAM approach to payloads with a hardware and software stack to enable plug and play sensors on a standard microsatellite platform.

QEYSSat is, I am informed, the largest contract since Loft Orbital was founded in 2017. By coincidence, the same year that the Chinese Academy of Sciences launched a similar QKD program using the Micius satellite.

So, why should you give a rat's behind if it's all been done before? Because, dear reader, QKD is a nascent technology, so every new test program will, almost inevitably, unlock further and valuable information. A few years is a very long time in quantum technology, to bastardize the political idiom.

There are a bunch of differences between the older Micius approach to QKD and that which QEYSSat is taking. For a start, QEYSSat is aiming to be less than 20% the size of the Micius satellite and will leverage commercial technology. Hence the involvement of Loft Orbital. Does size matter? You betcha. Reductions in size of that scale should lead to significant savings in both cost and time as far as the next generation of test projects is concerned. Size and mass will also be key if you'll forgive the pun, as any QKD implementation at scale will demand a large satellite constellation.

Ultimately, if all goes according to plan, QEYSSat could have broad-reaching impacts as it should prove the capability to deliver QKD over much longer distances than the current ground to ground tests have managed to date. "This mission will demonstrate game-changing technology with far-reaching implications for how information will be shared and distributed in the future," says Loft Orbital CEO, Pierre-Damien Vaujour, "we are honored and thrilled to be supporting it."

Time, I think, to bring in my friendly quantum security expert, mathematician and security researcher, Dr. Mark Carney, who you may remember helped me explain why the math says Person Woman Man Camera TV made such a lousy password. Dr. Carney has a particular interest in quantum key distribution threat modeling, so makes the ideal guide to what we can expect, or not, from the QEYSSat mission.

"There are four ways quantum affects security," Dr. Carney begins, "quantum computers break classical algorithms, post-quantum algorithms try to get around this by using harder math problems in classical crypto, quantum algorithms can be used to accelerate decisions (popular in quantum finance, but nobody in infosec has really looked at what algorithms can help where), and QKD, that uses quantum effects to do cryptography, bypassing the need for 'mathematical crosswords' altogether."

Still with me, good? Because it gets a little more complicated from this point on.

The algorithms that drive QKD are oldish, and the most popular and well-established, BB84 and E91, primarily work in the same way.

"Because regular cryptography goes over regular networks, it is fully error corrected," Dr. Carney says, "the security is in the underlying math. As such, it can be packet-switched without any consequence."

What has all this got to do with QKD in space? I'm getting there, and so is Dr. Carney. "The problem with QKD is that packet switching is somewhere between very very hard and basically impossible," he says, "because unlike the security of classical crypto being in the math, the security of QKD is in the physical photon state."

Time to get your just accept this at face value head screwed on: if you observe a photon, the quantum effects you are using disappear and you may as well just use classical crypto because it is much better at being transmitted in the clear.

So, if not packet switching, then what? "You need a direct fiber link to do light photon-based QKD between every single endpoint you want to exchange a key with," Dr. Carney explains. One major manufacturer of QKD fiber solutions produces building-to-building link equipment so that the internal security of the network is the only concern of the QKD keys produced. "This is where satellites turn out to be really handy," says Dr. Carney, "send up one satellite, and have a load of users communicate with that, and no need to build dozens or hundreds of fiber links."

If you have a laser array and a laser receiver, you can send pulses of photons up to satellites and still do QKD, albeit with higher error rates due to atmospheric diffusion of light that cannot be avoided. Dr. Carney will come back to that shortly, I'm sure.

"Another advantage of space is that you don't need fiber repeaters," he says, "and for distances of over 14km, single fiber connections get kind of useless." There are fiber repeater network designs for QKD, but these are not necessarily immune to tampering, so breaking the trust modeling according to Dr. Carney.

"I mentioned error and atmospheric dispersion on uplink before," Dr. Carney reminds me, as much as bad weather doesn't actually affect cloud computing, cloud cover certainly affects QKD! Dispersion on the way down is also an issue, and targeting your downlink comms is also hard."

It turns out that getting the aperture of that link down to a minimum seems like a tough problem. "I don't think the calculations are favorable if your downlink laser disperses over a broad area," Dr. Carney adds, "Eve would just have to plant a small mirror on your fence or carefully park another satellite quietly next to yours," to break the threat model once more.

Dr. Carney is of the opinion that "going into space solves a few problems, but also introduces others." Not least because QKD has a fundamental problem which is hard to solve under any circumstance: all of the security is in the physicality of the system. "One foot wrong," Dr. Carney says, "and you can fail pretty badly very quickly."

As for the Chinese Micius program and what that taught us about QKD in space, the latest I heard was a June 2020 paper published in Nature that explained "entanglement-based QKD between two ground stations separated by 1,120 kilometers at a finite secret-key rate of 0.12 bits per second, without the need for trusted relays." That paper claims the methods used increased the on the ground secure distance tenfold and increased the "practical security of QKD to an unprecedented level."

And what of Loft Orbital, which seems to think that this new QKD technology should be available to the private sector, and adopted at scale, in the 2030s? Dr. Carney doesn't have a problem with that as a date for adoption, given that Loft Orbital is demonstrating how microsats are getting ever easier to launch.

"Adopted at scale," he says, "this is I think the kicker. There seem to be a lot of variables in the mix that don't have easy engineering solutions. Unless you are launching a satellite per region and getting decent coverage with superb bandwidth to mitigate issues such as cloud cover, it's hard to see how the cost viability is maintained."

One thing is for sure, this is a move forward, and it will be interesting to see where all this takes us. Especially with "private equity making investments that heretofore were only really of interest and in reach of nation-states," Dr. Carney concludes.

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‘High Seas’ Season 3 Preview: Eva and Carolina need to solve the new mystery before it’s too late – MEAWW

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Netflix is about to drop the third season of 'High Seas' aka 'Alta Mar' which comes from the makers of Netflix's first Spanish original series, 'Cable Girls'. 'High Seas', like 'Cable Girls' is a historical series and featured women in the lead roles but some of the key differences are that it is set in the aftermath of the World War II and is almost entirely set on the fictional ship, Barbara de Braganza.

In the first season, we met the Villanueva sisters, Eva (Ivana Baquero) and Carolina (Alejandra Onieva), who are headed to Buenos Aires, Argentina for a fresh start in their lives. Eva is an aspiring writer and Carolina is engaged to the ship's co-owner, Fernando Fabregas (Eloy Azorn). Aboard the ship, Eva meets First Officer, Nicolas Vasquez (Jon Kortajarena), a suave man who helps Eva as the ship is soon embroiled in mystery and murder.

Over the course of the first two seasons, Carolina -- the more timid of the sisters -- got married to Fernando, but by the end of Season 2, we were beginning to see that she was reevaluating her marriage and was breaking out of her shell. Meanwhile, Eva and Nicolas fall in love, but their relationship is put in jeopardy when Nicolas learns that his wife -- whom he believed to have died when she was taken by the Nazis -- is still alive.

When we meet the sisters again as the third season starts, one and a half years have passed since the events of the last season. Eva is a successful author, having published her novel, 'Lost Souls', which she wrote aboard the Barbara de Braganza, and Carolina has brought her own ship -- a cargo ship unlike the Barbara de Braganza -- to become more independent. Both sisters are reunited on the Barbara de Braganza when they set sail to Mexico, however, mysterious circumstances make their new voyage perilous again.

Before Eva embarks the ship, she meets Brazilian spy, Fabio (Marco Pigossi), who tells her he needs her help to find out the identity of a Nazi doctor who had developed a deadly virus and is believed to be a passenger on the upcoming voyage. Fabio wants to arrest the doctor before the ship sets sail. However, Eva and Fabio are unable to find the man before the voyage starts, leading to a race against time to find the dangerous man and the deadly virus before the ship reaches Mexico.

Meanwhile, Nicolas is asked to captain Carolina's ship when that ship's captain mysteriously. Nicolas is hesitant because his wife -- who is suffering from PTSD from the war -- is aboard the Barbara de Braganza. But after assurances from Captain Santiago Aguirre (Eduardo Blanco), he agrees. This seems like it was an orchestrated move because the new First Officer seems to be working with Pierre (Daniel Lundh) -- an officer who is reeling from the death of his lover in the previous season -- for some nefarious purpose. Together, they move to try and make Aguirre look like he is losing his mind.

Meanwhile, we are introduced to two other characters -- Carmen, the Villanueva sisters' uncle's friend, and her daughter, Diana, who is fully covered in bandages -- both of whom seem to have hidden purposes of their own.

Before they know it, Eva is embroiled in something that could be much more dangerous than her previous trip on the ship as a murder soon rocks the boat (pun intended). With Nicolas absent on the ship, Eva must rely on Fabio as Carolina is put in a precarious situation. Will they be able to retrieve the virus and avert disaster again?

'High Seas' Season 3 will be available to stream on Netflix on August 7 at 12 AM PST.

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'High Seas' Season 3 Preview: Eva and Carolina need to solve the new mystery before it's too late - MEAWW

‘High Seas’ Season 3: Meet Ivana Baquero, Jon Kortajarena and rest of the cast of the Netflix series – MEAWW

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In Netflix's Spanish original drama 'High Seas' aka 'Alta Mar', we meet sisters Eva and Carolina Villanueva who are traveling to Argentina from Spain aboard the ship, Brbara de Braganza. The ship is owned by Carolina's fiance Fernando Fbregas. On their way to the ship, a distraught woman runs ahead of their car and begs them for help. The Villanueva sisters help the woman named Sofia sneak into the ship as a stowaway. Unfortunately, that's where the troubles begin.

It turns out Sofia is not so innocent and the Villanueva sisters come to learn that their father, who they thought was dead, was, in fact, alive. They even learn that he worked with Nazis during the Second World War and was trying to uncover Nazi gold from the ship with Sofia's help.In the second season, the Barbara de Braganza answers a distress call and sets out to rescue people who have supposedly survived a sinking ship. But as it turns out, the team of rescues, led by Casandra Lenormand, were looking for the killers of Casandra's sister, with whom Fernando was having an affair with just before his engagement to Carolina.

By the end of the second season, most of these mysteries get solved, though Sofia escapes. Eva, who had begun a romantic relationship with Nicolas Vzquez, an officer on the Barbara de Braganza, hopes to start anew with her writing career in Argentina. However, Nicolas's wife (whom he presumed dead after being taken by the Nazis) comes back and Eva and Nicolas presumably go their separate ways.

The third season of 'High Seas' is set to be released on Netflix and when we catch up with the Villanueva sisters, they have spent a year and a half in Argentina. Both sisters have changed Carolina owns another ship and Eva is hiding a mission that she will carry out with Fabio, a Brazillian spy. The two sisters come together on the Barbara de Braganza on a trip that will take them from Buenos Aires to Veracruz as Eva and Fabio try to stop a scientist traveling aboard the ship with a powerful lethal weapon. With a new plot of mystery and espionage, our heroes' lives will be at risk again as new characters are thrown into the mix.

Read on to know which of your favorite characters are returning and who is coming aboard the Barbara de Braganza for the first time in Season 3.

You may best know Ivana Baquero as one of the stars of MTV's 'The Shannara Chronicles', or from Guillermo del Toro's 'Pan's Labyrinth'. The Spanish actress is a formidable star who undoubtedly is still yet to conquer more. In 'High Seas', Baquero plays Eva Villanueva, the bolder and more inquisitive of the sisters. We follow Eva over the first two seasons solving mysteries and falling in love. Fans can expect more of the same in the upcoming season.

For American viewers, this may be a new face, but Alejandra Onieva is one of the most popular actresses in Spain. Known for her roles in 'El Secreto de Puente Viejo' and 'Hazing', Onieva is sure to capture the attention of viewers through her role in 'High Seas'. In the Netflix series, she plays Carolina, who may start out as the more timid sister, but learns to be more self-assured and independent over the course of two seasons.

Jon Kortajarena's cheekbones could cut through your soul but don't let that distract you from his acting abilities. Kortajarena started out as a model for Versace, Giorgio Armani and more and went on to act in hits such as 'A Single Man' and 'Skins'. In 'High Seas', he plays the suave, good-hearted Nicolas Vasquez, who helps Eva with her investigations and slowly falls in love with her. While they presumably go their separate ways after Nicolas meets his wife in Argentina (whom he thought was dead), we hope these two lovebirds find their way to each other.

Unfortunately, Eva and Nicolas's romance may face a hurdle in the form of a new character, Fabio, played by Marco Pigossi. Pigossi is a Brazilian actor best known for his work on 'Edge of Desire', 'Land of the Strong' and Netflix's 'Tidelands'. Fabio is Eva's new investigation-friendly partner, and from the trailer, we see some sparks flying.

'High Seas' Season 3 will be available to stream on Netflix on August 7 at 12 am PST.

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'High Seas' Season 3: Meet Ivana Baquero, Jon Kortajarena and rest of the cast of the Netflix series - MEAWW