Tesla Model 3 Is #1 Top Selling American Car In USA
October 9th, 2018Via: CleanTechnica:
Tesla’s production and sales growth is stunning. It is one of the most dramatic manufacturing stories in US history, let alone 2018. The sales records and eye-warping bar charts are in multiple important categories, not just in the electric vehicle space.
However, one story I haven’t seen highlighted yet is that the Tesla Model 3 was the #1 top selling American car in September.
The only three cars that sold more than this American success story were the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, and Honda Civic.
Related: Tesla Model 3 Achieves Lowest Probability of Injury of Any Vehicle Ever Tested by NHTSA
China’s Dystopian Social Credit System
October 8th, 2018Interesting take.
In short, everything is so F-ed up in China, the implementation of the social credit system will be no different. The good news is that it might never work, or, if it does work in some capacity, it will quickly break down, like everything else in China.
To me, the most horrifying aspect of this is how much of it sounds like U.S. airports!
Via: ADV China:
Google Exposed User Data, Feared Repercussions of Disclosing to Public
October 8th, 2018Via: Wall Street Journal:
Google exposed the private data of hundreds of thousands of users of the Google+ social network and then opted not to disclose the issue this past spring, in part because of fears that doing so would draw regulatory scrutiny and cause reputational damage, according to people briefed on the incident and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
As part of its response to the incident, the Alphabet Inc. unit on Monday announced a sweeping set of data privacy measures that include permanently shutting down all consumer functionality of Google+. The move effectively puts the final nail in the coffin of a product that was launched in 2011 to challenge Facebook Inc. and is widely seen as one of Google’s biggest failures.
Facebook Wants People to Invite Its Cameras Into Their Homes
October 8th, 2018Mmm hmm.
Via: AP:
Facebook is launching the first electronic device to bear its brand, a screen and camera-equipped gadget intended to make video calls easier and more intuitive.
But it’s unclear if people will open their homes to an internet-connected camera sold by a company with a questionable track record on protecting user privacy.
Facebook is marketing the device, called Portal, as a way for its more than 2 billion users to chat with one another without having to fuss with positioning and other controls. The device features a camera that uses artificial intelligence to automatically pan and zoom as people move around during calls.
The World’s Most Beautiful Battery
October 7th, 2018Via: Bloomberg:
High in the Austrian Alps, a utility has adapted a 70-year-old facility to store solar and wind energy for when it’s needed most.
More Than One-Third of U.S. Adults Consume Fast Food Each Day
October 6th, 2018Via: Newsweek:
On a given day, 36.6 percent of American adults will consume fast food, and that percentage only rises with higher income brackets.
Researchers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics studied the fast food consumption of adults in the United States. Released Wednesday, the report compares the percentage of fast-food eating adults for demographic characteristics such as age, race and income level between the years 2013 and 2016.
…
They also reported that as American adults aged, the percentage of daily fast food consumption lessened. Only 24.1 percent of adults aged 60 and older consumed fast food, while 37.7 percent of adults ages 40 to 59 and 44.9 percent of adults aged 20 to 39 did.
Microsoft Windows 10 October 2018 Update Deleting Personal Files of Some Users
October 6th, 2018
Via: Beta News:
Microsoft made its latest Windows 10 feature update available to download on Tuesday, and shortly afterwards the problems started. It didn’t play nicely with some Intel CPUs, Edge and Windows Store apps didn’t work for some users and, most damningly, the update was found to be deleting personal files.
In the face of so many problems, Microsoft had to do something, and it has. The update has been pulled.
Russian Official With Ties to Lawyer in Trump Tower Meeting Dies in Helicopter Crash
October 5th, 2018Via: The Hill:
A Russian deputy attorney general, who is thought to have directed Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya in her efforts abroad on behalf of Russia’s government, reportedly died Wednesday night in a helicopter crash.
The Daily Beast reported that Saak Albertovich Karapetyan was aboard an unauthorized helicopter flight, which crashed near the village of Vonyshevo, outside of Moscow.
Karapetyan was reportedly behind Veselnitskaya’s global efforts to lobby lawmakers to overturn anti-corruption acts such as the U.S. Magnitsky Act, which passed in 2012. The U.S. legislation is similar to others around the world which commemorate Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died while trying to expose a $230 million fraud scheme in Russia. The acts have reportedly incensed Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Interpol Chief Missing
October 5th, 2018Via: Newsweek:
Interpol President Meng Hongwei is reportedly missing after traveling to his native China last week, according to French authorities.
French police have opened an investigation after Meng’s wife told authorities that she did not hear from her husband since he left their home in Lyon, where Interpol is also based.
Jeff Bezos Is Planning to Ship ‘Several Metric Tons of Cargo’ to the Moon
October 5th, 2018Via: Vice:
Jeff Bezos’s pet aerospace exploration project is planning to send “several metric tons” of unspecified cargo to the Moon in the next five years.
Blue Origin, described by Bezos as “the most important work I’m doing,” signed a letter of intent with German aerospace companies OHB Space Systems and Security and MT Aerospace at the 69th annual International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Germany on Tuesday. The OHB SE dubbed the lunar project the “Blue Moon” mission in a press release.
It’s not clear exactly what cargo the Blue Moon mission would transport, but it likely includes infrastructure designed to start private business on the Moon: The IAC also detailed the launch of the “Moon Race,” a competition between Blue Origin, Airbus Air and Space, and other space agencies around the world to develop technology that will bring companies around the world to the Moon.
