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A new study has found that COVID-19 vaccines may be somewhat vulnerable to the California “Epsilon” strain of virus. The variant has three spike protein mutations it uses to weaken current vaccines by up to 70 percent, according to researchers from University of Washington and the San Fransisco-based lab Vir Biotechnology. The strain’s mutations break down neutralized antibodies, which are produced by vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna and protect against infection, according to the study, published in the journal Science on July 1.

Japan cancels first launch of Epsilon rocket 19 seconds before liftoff Tariq Malik, Space.com The first launch of Japan's newest rocket, the next-generation Epsilon booster, hit a major last-minute snag Tuesday, forcing the country's space agency to abort the spaceflight 19 seconds before liftoff. The glitch occurred extremely late in the countdown for the Epsilon rocket, which was slated to blast off from a seaside pad at the Uchinoura Space Center in southern Japan. The rocket was set to launch Tuesday at 12:45 a.m. EDT, which was 1:45 p.m. Japan Standard Time at the launch site. /snip JAXA's Epsilon rocket...

Facebook has announced that it's teaming up with four of the world's largest corporate data brokers to "enhance" the ad experience for users. Datalogix, Epsilon, Acxiom, and BlueKai obtain information gathered about users through online means (such as through cookies when users surf the web) as well as through offline means (such as through loyalty cards at supermarkets and product warranty cards). Through the new relationship with Facebook, companies will be able to display advertisements to Facebook users based on data that these data brokers have on individuals. Here's how to stop them.

What kind of data does it have? "If you are an American adult," says Singer, "the odds are that it knows things like your age, race, sex, weight, height, marital status, education level, politics, buying habits, household health worries, vacation dreams — and on and on." It does more than collect that information, though. It uses it to pigeonhole people into one of 70 very specific socioeconomic clusters in an attempt to predict how they'll act, what they'll buy, and how companies can persuade them to buy their products. It gathers its data trove from public records, surveys you've filled...

I have received notification of email breaches from Kroger, Best Buy and Home Depot so far. They seem legit as they are not asking for any info, just notifying me of probable phishing scams based on these breaches. so how many credit cards got info stolen recently?

Due to the growing list of brands disclosing that they have been compromised as a result of this breach, I’m going to go ahead and tag this as a massive breach. And I only expect it to get bigger as more announcements come out from Epsilon customers. Last night we reported on a breach at marketing services provider, Epsilon, the world’s largest permission-based email marketing provider. Initially we wrote that the breach had affected Kroger, the nation's largest traditional grocery retailer. There is a list of companies at the link (but I don't know if that is going to be...

Hurricane season finally ending, but next year could be bad, too By JOHN PAIN Associated Press Writer November 29. 2005 4:27PM The busiest and costliest Atlantic hurricane season on record officially - and mercifully - draws to a close Wednesday, with hundreds of thousands of Americans still dealing with the devastation wrought by Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Despite the end of the June 1-to-Nov. 30 season, hurricanes could still form over the next few months. In fact, a tropical storm took shape in the Atlantic on Tuesday. But no hurricane has been known to hit the United States between December...

Tropical Storm Epsilon, the 26th named storm of this remarkable hurricane season, has been christened in the Atlantic Ocean about 845 miles east of Bermuda. Epsilon is churning westward and may gradually increase in strength. It is, however, expected to shift to an ENE track after about 36 hours, thus sparing Bermuda any effects. The storm likely will become extratropical by this weekend as it continues its journey over the open waters of the eastern Atlantic. The amazing 2005 Atlantic hurricane season has shattered many long-standing records, chief among them a record number of named storms, twenty-six, which has obliterated...

Storm #28 forms: Epsilon