Archive for February, 2018
Apple Moves to Store iCloud Keys in China, Raising Human Rights Fears
February 24th, 2018Via: Reuters: When Apple Inc begins hosting Chinese users’ iCloud accounts in a new Chinese data center at the end of this month to comply with new laws there, Chinese authorities will have far easier access to text messages, email and other data stored in the cloud. That’s because of a change to how the […]
Daimler’s Truck Boss Thinks Tesla Semi Specs Defy Laws of Physics, Musk Thinks Production Tesla Semi Will Exceed Specs for Same Price
February 24th, 2018Via: Electrek: As we reported last week and discussed on the Electrek podcast yesterday, many people still have a difficult time wrapping their head around the Tesla Semi specs that the company announced last year. But now CEO Elon Musk says that he is ‘optimistic’ they can beat those specs with the production version of […]
Thanks to “Consent” Buried Deep in Sales Agreements, Car Manufacturers Are Tracking Tens of Millions of U.S. Cars
February 24th, 2018Via: BoingBoing: Millions of new cars sold in the US and Europe are “connected,” having some mechanism for exchanging data with their manufacturers after the cars are sold; these cars stream or batch-upload location data and other telemetry to their manufacturers, who argue that they are allowed to do virtually anything they want with this […]
SpaceX Begins Starlink Satellite Broadband Trial
February 24th, 2018Via: cnet: A pair of small satellites named for an adventurous Belgian cartoon character could serve as proof of concept for an ambitious global broadband service envisioned by Elon Musk. After days of delays, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the two small satellites, newly dubbed Tintin A and B by Musk (but known more […]
A Larger Role for Midwives Could Improve Deficient U.S. Care for Mothers and Babies
February 24th, 2018Via: ProPublica: In Great Britain, midwives deliver half of all babies, including Kate Middleton’s first two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. In Sweden, Norway and France, midwives oversee most expectant and new mothers, enabling obstetricians to concentrate on high-risk births. In Canada and New Zealand, midwives are so highly valued that they’re brought in […]
Construction Begins on Jeff Bezos’ $42 Million 10,000-Year Clock
February 24th, 2018Via: The Verge: Installation has finally begun on Jeff Bezos’ 10,000-year clock, a project that the Amazon CEO has invested $42 million in (along with a hollowed-out mountain in Texas that Bezos intends for a Blue Origin spaceport), with the goal of building a mechanical clock that will run for 10 millennia.
CNN Town Hall: Stick to the Script
February 23rd, 2018Via: Real Clear Politics: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor Colton Haab appeared on FOX News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight to talk about his saga with CNN and how they “scripted” a question for him to use at Wednesday night’s town hall event hosted by the network and moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper. Haab, a […]
SpinLaunch
February 23rd, 2018I just hope there’s plenty of 4K footage of the launch centrifuge facility when it experiences catastrophic failure. Via: TechCrunch: What if instead of blasting cargo into space on a rocket, we could fling it into space using a catapult? That’s the big, possibly crazy, possibly genius idea behind SpinLaunch. It was secretly founded in […]
Nissan to Begin Easy Ride Trial in Japan
February 22nd, 2018Via: Reuters: Facing a future in which self-driving cars may curb vehicle ownership, Nissan Motor Co is taking its first steps to becoming an operator of autonomous transportation services, hoping to break into a segment set to be dominated by Uber Technologies and other technology firms. In partnership with Japanese mobile gaming platform operator DeNA […]
How General Electric Gambled on Fossil Fuel Power, and Lost
February 22nd, 2018Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Reuters: Rather than rising, GE Power’s profit fell 45 percent last year, forcing GE to slash its overall profit outlook and cut its dividend for only the second time since the Great Depression. Its shares have plunged more than 50 percent since the March […]
