Uber’s First Self-Driving Fleet Arrives in Pittsburgh This Month
August 18th, 2016Via: Bloomberg:
Starting later this month, Uber will allow customers in downtown Pittsburgh to summon self-driving cars from their phones, crossing an important milestone that no automotive or technology company has yet achieved. Google, widely regarded as the leader in the field, has been testing its fleet for several years, and Tesla Motors offers Autopilot, essentially a souped-up cruise control that drives the car on the highway. Earlier this week, Ford announced plans for an autonomous ride-sharing service. But none of these companies has yet brought a self-driving car-sharing service to market.
Uber’s Pittsburgh fleet, which will be supervised by humans in the driver’s seat for the time being, consists of specially modified Volvo XC90 sport-utility vehicles outfitted with dozens of sensors that use cameras, lasers, radar, and GPS receivers. Volvo Cars has so far delivered a handful of vehicles out of a total of 100 due by the end of the year. The two companies signed a pact earlier this year to spend $300?million to develop a fully autonomous car that will be ready for the road by 2021.
Mock Human Sacrifice at CERN
August 18th, 2016Via: Guardian:
The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) has launched an investigation into a video filmed at night on its Geneva campus depicting a mock ritual human sacrifice.
The video, which circulated online, shows several individuals in black cloaks gathering in a main square at Europe’s top physics lab, in what appears to be a re-enactment of an occult ceremony.
The video includes the staged “stabbing” of a woman. It is filmed from the perspective of a secret viewer watching from a window above who, as the ceremony reaches its climax, lets out a string of expletives and flees with the camera still running.
The ceremony appears to have been staged in front of a statue of the Hindu deity Shiva that is on permanent display at the complex, home of the Large Hadron Collider.
Dr. Drew Pinsky On Hillary Clinton’s Medical Situation: “Gravely Concerned”
August 18th, 2016The original link for this audio is on KABC 16 August 2016. The title is Dr. Drew Speaks Out on Hillary’s Health. However, that page is now displaying, “Whoops! Page Not Found”
At the time I’m posting this, the audio player widget on KABC at the link above still plays the interview. In case that “breaks” too, here’s a backup:
Equation Group Firewall Operations Catalogue
August 17th, 2016#EXTRABACON *chortle*
Via: musalbas:
This week someone auctioning hacking tools obtained from the NSA-based hacking group “Equation Group” released a dump of around 250 megabytes of “free” files for proof alongside the auction.
The dump contains a set of exploits, implants and tools for hacking firewalls (“Firewall Operations”). This post aims to be a comprehensive list of all the tools contained or referenced in the dump.
Clinton Foundation Hacked?
August 17th, 2016
Via: Reuters:
Bill and Hillary Clinton’s charitable foundation hired the security firm FireEye to examine its data systems after seeing indications they might have been hacked, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
So far, no message or document hacked from the New York-based Clinton Foundation has surfaced in public, the sources said.
One of the sources and two U.S. security officials said that like hackers who targeted the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democrats’ congressional fundraising committee, the hackers appear to have used “spear phishing” techniques to gain access to the foundation’s network.
Walmart’s Out-of-Control Crime Problem
August 17th, 2016Via: Bloomberg:
Police reports from dozens of stores suggest the number of petty crimes committed on Walmart properties nationwide this year will be in the hundreds of thousands. But people dashing out the door with merchandise is the least troubling part of Walmart’s crime problem. More than 200 violent crimes, including attempted kidnappings and multiple stabbings, shootings, and murders, have occurred at the nation’s 4,500 Walmarts this year, or about one a day, according to an analysis of media reports. Sometimes they’re spectacular enough to get national attention. In June, a SWAT team killed a hostage taker at a Walmart in Amarillo, Texas. In July, three Walmart employees in Florida were charged with manslaughter after a shoplifter they chased and pinned down died of asphyxia. Other crimes are just bizarre. On Aug. 8, police discovered a meth lab inside a 6-foot-high drainage pipe under a Walmart parking lot in Amherst, N.Y.
…
There’s nothing inevitable about the level of crime at Walmart. It’s the direct, if unintended, result of corporate policy. Beginning as far back as 2000, when former CEO Lee Scott took over, an aggressive cost-cutting crusade led many stores to deteriorate. The famed greeters were removed, taking away a deterrent to theft at the porous entrances and exits. Self-checkout scanners replaced many cashiers. Walmart added stores faster than it hired employees. The company has one worker for every 524 square feet of retail space, a 19 percent increase in space per employee from a decade ago.
In terms of profit, all this has worked: Sales per employee in the U.S. have grown 23 percent in the past decade, to $236,804. For criminals, however, the cutbacks were like sending out a message that no one at Walmart cared, no one was watching, and no one was likely to catch you.
Ford: Driverless Cars by 2021
August 17th, 2016Via: NBC:
Most major automakers — and a number of automotive start-ups — are racing to develop the first hands-free vehicles. Nissan, for one, hopes to have a fully autonomous car in production by 2020. But Ford says it will go a step beyond. It has announced plans to eliminate the driver entirely when it launches a new line of high-tech products in 2021.
“We believe autonomous vehicles, especially with the automation of the driver, will be a significant change, perhaps as significant as the moving assembly line,’ said Raj Nair, Ford’s director of global product planning.
Ford’s previous autonomous vehicle strategy has mirrored the broader industry approach: roll out a series of ever more sophisticated “driver assistance” systems until the technology permits drivers to completely take their hands off the wheel for extended periods of time. Until now, it was generally thought that fully driverless vehicles wouldn’t be ready for at least another decade, possibly not until sometime around 2030 or beyond.
But Ford shifted gears because, “We don’t think the path to true autonomy is through a step-by-step, incremental process,” Nair said during a telephone interview.
Debtors’ Prisons: Life Inside America’s For-Profit Justice System
August 17th, 2016Part 1
Part 2
Cisco Systems to Lay Off About 14,000 Employees
August 17th, 2016Via: Reuters:
Cisco Systems Inc is laying off about 14,000 employees, representing nearly 20 percent of the network equipment maker’s global workforce, technology news site CRN reported, citing sources close to the company.
San Jose, California-based Cisco is expected to announce the cuts within the next few weeks, the report said, as the company transition from its hardware roots into a software-centric organization.
Florida: Murder Suspect Found Biting Off Victim’s Face
August 16th, 2016#zombies
Via: Click Orlando:
A man accused of stabbing three people in South Florida, killing a married couple, was found biting off the face of one of the victims, according to deputies.
Martin County sheriff’s officials said deputies found Austin Moore, 23, on top of one of the victims at their Tequesta home, biting the victim’s face.
Flashback: Florida: Naked Man Killed by Police Near MacArthur Causeway Was ‘Eating’ Face Off Victim
