Archive for June, 2016
Google Wants to Slither Into Public Transportation
June 27th, 2016Via: Guardian: Sidewalk Labs, a secretive subsidiary of Alphabet, wants to radically overhaul public parking and transportation in American cities, emails and documents obtained by the Guardian reveal. Its high-tech services, which it calls “new superpowers to extend access and mobility”, could make it easier to drive and park in cities and create hybrid public/private […]
Inside the World of Large-Scale Food Heists
June 27th, 2016We just had all of the meat from our most recent home killed steer stolen from our butcher shop’s freezer. The thieves sawed a hole through the freezer and made off with our meat, another customer’s meat and some of the shop’s meat. (I assume it was multiple thieves because several hundred kilos of meat […]
While Brazil Was Eradicating Zika Mosquitoes, America Made Them Into Weapons
June 24th, 2016Via: Atlas Obscura: In the 1950s, while in South America military-like brigades were hunting down Aedes aegypti, in the United States, the Army was falling in love with the same mosquito. At Fort Detrick, the military’s biological weapons base in Maryland, in great secret, Army scientists were considering how fleas, grasshoppers, and mosquitoes might be […]
Germany Worried that France, Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Hungary Could Also Seek to Leave EU
June 24th, 2016Via: Reuters: Germany is worried that France, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Hungary could also seek to leave the European Union after Britain’s vote to quit the bloc, German newspaper Die Welt said on Friday, citing a finance ministry strategy paper.
Hedge Fund Manager Charged With Insider Trading Is Found Dead
June 24th, 2016Via: New York Times: A high-flying hedge fund manager at Visium Asset Management, who was charged last week with insider trading, has died, apparently the victim of a suicide. The manager, Sanjay Valvani, was discovered on Monday by his wife in their brownstone in Brooklyn Heights, a New York police official said. Mr. Valvani was […]
The New Censorship
June 24th, 2016“How did Google become the internet’s censor and master manipulator, blocking access to millions of websites?” Via: U.S. News & World Report: Google, Inc., isn’t just the world’s biggest purveyor of information; it is also the world’s biggest censor. The company maintains at least nine different blacklists that impact our lives, generally without input or […]
The Fourth Amendment Does Not Apply to Your Home Computer
June 24th, 2016Via: EFF: In a dangerously flawed decision unsealed today, a federal district court in Virginia ruled that a criminal defendant has no “reasonable expectation of privacy” in his personal computer, located inside his home. According to the court, the federal government does not need a warrant to hack into an individual’s computer. … The implications […]
Inside Silicon Valley’s Robot Pizzeria
June 24th, 2016Via: Bloomberg: In the back kitchen of Mountain View’s newest pizzeria, Marta works tirelessly, spreading marinara sauce on uncooked pies. She doesn’t complain, takes no breaks, and has never needed a sick day. She works for free. Marta is one of two robots working at Zume Pizza, a secretive food delivery startup trying to make […]
Britain Has Voted to Leave the European Union
June 23rd, 2016Update: Nikkei 225 Down 7.92% Via: TheStreet: As the yen surged, the Japanese stock markets tumbled. The Nikkei 225 plunged 7.92% to close at 14,952.02–the lowest level in 20 months and the largest decline since April 17, 2000. — Update: Gold: Two Year High Via: Reuters: Gold soared as much as 8 percent to its […]
Introducing SpotMini
June 23rd, 2016Via: Boston Dynamics/Google:
