Trump Says He Will Put U.S. Military on Southern Border
April 3rd, 2018Via: The Hill:
President Trump said Tuesday that he plans to deploy U.S. troops along the southern border to prevent illegal crossings.
“Until we have the wall, we are going to be guarding our border with our military. That’s a big step,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Defense Secretary James Mattis was sitting next to Trump when he made his comments.
Such a move would significantly escalate the U.S. presence along the frontier with Mexico. The U.S. Border Patrol — not the military — is tasked with protecting the border.
Apple Plans to Use Its Own Chips in Macs From 2020, Replacing Intel
April 2nd, 2018I’m very worried that Apple will, essentially, give up on general purpose computing. The company is already mostly dependent on its mobile oriented iOS ecosystem and people like me have been worried that macOS would eventually be merged into iOS.
I would like to believe that Apple is going to aim to beat Intel in terms of computing power with whatever silicon it ultimately ships with their Mac computers—but I seriously doubt that will happen.
Via: Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. is planning to use its own chips in Mac computers beginning as early as 2020, replacing processors from Intel Corp., according to people familiar with the plans.
The initiative, code named Kalamata, is still in the early developmental stages, but comes as part of a larger strategy to make all of Apple’s devices — including Macs, iPhones, and iPads — work more similarly and seamlessly together, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The project, which executives have approved, will likely result in a multi-step transition.
The shift would be a blow to Intel, whose partnership helped revive Apple’s Mac success and linked the chipmaker to one of the leading brands in electronics. Apple provides Intel with about 5 percent of its annual revenue, according to Bloomberg supply chain analysis.
Retailers Race Against Amazon to Automate Stores
April 2nd, 2018Via: New York Times:
A global race to automate stores is underway among several of the world’s top retailers and small tech start-ups, which are motivated to shave labor costs and minimize shoppers’ frustrations, like waiting for cashiers. They are also trying to prevent Amazon from dominating the physical retail world as it does online shopping.
Companies are testing robots that help keep shelves stocked, as well as apps that let shoppers ring up items with a smartphone. High-tech systems like the one used by Amazon Go completely automate the checkout process. China, which has its own ambitious e-commerce companies, is emerging as an especially fertile place for these retail experiments.
If they succeed, these new technologies could add further uncertainty to the retail work force, which is already in flux because of the growth of online shopping.
This Is Extremely Dangerous to Our Democracy
April 1st, 2018
Via: Sinclair Broadcast Group:
Ever Record a Video on Facebook? Facebook Still Has It.
March 31st, 2018Via: New York Magazine:
Have you downloaded your Facebook data archive yet? Facebook makes it easy to obtain a ZIP file of all the data it has on you: your status updates, your friend list, your messages … and, as I and several people I spoke with were surprised to discover, every video you ever filmed on the platform — including videos you never published.
Israeli Forces Kill Seven Palestinian Protesters on Gaza Border; Hundreds Injured
March 30th, 2018Via: Reuters:
At least seven Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured by Israeli security forces confronting one of the largest Palestinian demonstrations along the Israel-Gaza border in recent years, Gaza medical officials said.
One of the dead was aged 16 and most of the casualties were struck by gunfire, according to Palestinian medics who estimated the number of wounded at around 500 by mid-afternoon.
The Israeli military said that its troops had used “riot dispersal means and firing towards main instigators” and that some of the demonstrators were “rolling burning tires and hurling stones” at the border fence and at soldiers.
Palestinian health officials said Israeli forces used mostly gunfire against the protesters, in addition to tear gas and rubber bullets. Witnesses said the military had used a drone in at least one location to drop tear gas.
VW Diesel Graveyards
March 30th, 2018Pretty wild video.
Via: Reuters:
Volkswagen AG has paid more than $7.4 billion to buy back about 350,000 U.S. diesel vehicles through mid-February, a recent court filing shows. The German automaker has been storing hundreds of thousands of vehicles around the United States for months.
Volkswagen has 37 secure storage facilities around the United States housing nearly 300,000 vehicles, the filing from the program’s independent administrator said. The lots include a shuttered suburban Detroit football stadium, a former Minnesota paper mill and a sun-bleached desert graveyard near Victorville, California.
VW spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan said in a statement on Wednesday that the storage facility in Victorville, California, is one of many “to ensure the responsible storage of vehicles that are bought back under the terms of the Volkswagen” diesel settlements.
Cult Leader Charged with Sex Trafficking
March 29th, 2018Via: BBC:
Keith Raniere, the leader of an elusive US self-help group, has been arrested by the FBI in Mexico and charged with sex trafficking.
Federal prosecutors allege Mr Raniere oversaw a “slave and master” system in his group called Nxivm, where female members were expected to have sex with him and were branded with his initials.
He is expected to appear in court on the charges in Texas on Tuesday.
Mr Raniere left the country last year after former members spoke to US media.
A number of women came forward for an investigation published in the New York Times newspaper in October, which led to the United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn opening an investigation into the group.
After the piece, a letter by Mr Raniere denied any such practices were sanctioned by the group and said an independent investigation found “no merit” to the allegations.
What is Nxivm?
On its website Nxivm (pronounced nexium) describes itself as a “community guided by humanitarian principles that seek to empower people and answer important questions about what it means to be human.”
Based in Albany in upstate New York, the group was founded as Executive Success Programs in 1998 and says it has worked with more than 16,000 people.
Members of the group are reported to include wealthy heiresses, the son of a former Mexican president and Hollywood actresses.
Research Credit: Eileen
U.S. to Seek Social Media Details From All Visa Applicants
March 29th, 2018Via: Bloomberg:
The State Department wants to require all U.S. visa applicants to submit their social media usernames, previous email addresses and phone numbers, vastly expanding the Trump administration’s enhanced vetting of potential immigrants and visitors.
In documents to be published in Friday’s Federal Register, the department said it wants the public to comment on the proposed new requirements, which will affect nearly 15 million foreigners who apply for visas to enter the U.S. each year. Previously, social media, email and phone number histories were only sought from applicants identified for extra scrutiny, such as those who have traveled to areas controlled by terrorist organizations. An estimated 65,000 people per year are in that category.
The new rules would apply to virtually all applicants for immigrant and non-immigrant visas. The department estimates it would affect 710,000 immigrant visa applicants and 14 million non-immigrant visa applicants, including those who want to come to the U.S. for business or education, according to the documents.
Microsoft Edges Closer to Quantum Computer Based on Elusive Particle
March 29th, 2018Disclosure: I am long Quantum Resistant Ledger (QRL).
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Via: Bloomberg:
At Microsoft Corp.’s Dutch research facility at the Delft University of Technology, several large cylindrical metal tubes hang from the ceiling.
Each tube – a dilution refrigerator used to cool circuits down to temperatures colder than deep space – costs more than $500,000, and has helped Microsoft’s researchers create an elusive subatomic particle that the company hopes will serve as the building block of its effort to create commercially-viable quantum computers.
The scientists say they have clear evidence of the creation of Majorana fermions – an elementary particle that its own anti-particle –in a tiny wire that is composed of both semiconducting and superconducting materials, according to research published in the journal Nature Wednesday.
The unique properties of these fermions means that they could be used to create quantum computers with much lower error rates than the designs being trialed by rival companies, such as International Business Machines Corp. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, that are also racing to bring quantum computers to market. Currently, those other designs produce too many errors in their calculations to be useful for practical applications, such as the ability to create new chemical catalysts or break the most popular forms of encryption.
Microsoft will now attempt to braid these tiny fermions to create qubits – the fundamental calculating hardware used in quantum computers. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive officer, has said that quantum computing is one of three breakthrough technologies – the others are artificial intelligence and augmented reality – that will be critical to the future of the company. Microsoft hopes to eventually rent time on quantum computers to businesses through its cloud computing network.
