Tech News

AI:

TechTalks: In which direction is AI headed?

...we’ve reached a point where artificial intelligence algorithms can solve very complicated problems, and in many cases with speed and accuracy that is far superior to those of humans. But whether contemporary AI works likes the human mind is up for debate.

TechSpot: AI coming soon to a McDonald's drive thru near you.

McDonald’s will put its newfound technology to work in the drive thru. Working in conjunction with the company’s digital menus, Dynamic Yield technology will account for factors like weather, time of day, current restaurant traffic and trending menu items to display items that customers are more likely to purchase.
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McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook said they have a really straightforward business. “People only come to us if they want something to eat, or something to drink. We’re not in the business of using technology to try to change people’s lives.”

McDonald's predictive menu ordering=here. Change people's lives? They'll get there sooner rather than later.

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EU Articles 11 and 13 Copyright Reform:

Beta News: EU approves copyright reform despite massive opposition.

Known respectively as the "link tax" and the "upload filter", these two clauses have generated a great deal of interest from internet users and the technology industry alike. In particular, article 13 has proved especially controversial, holding websites responsible for material uploaded without a licence [sic] [.]

ZD Net: Social media platforms affected by new EU copyright regulations.

The European Parliament said the directive aims to ensure that copyright law also applies to the internet. It added that YouTube, Facebook and Google News are some of the internet household names that will be "most directly affected" by this legislation.

TechDirt: MEP's say mistaken in their vote on Articles 11 and 13. EU replies, "pound sand.".

...the key vote was whether to allow amendments that could have deleted those two articles. That vote failed by just five votes, 317 to 312. Unfortunately, soon after the vote was finalized, a few of the MEPs who voted against the plan for amendments -- Peter Lundgren and Kristina Winberg -- said they voted incorrectly and meant to vote for the amendments in order to get rid of Articles 11 and 13. Apparently, someone changed the vote order which threw them off[.]

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Dark Reading: Russia regularly spoofs regional GPS.

A large-scale analysis of global positioning data has discovered widespread Russian spoofing over the past three years of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) used by ships and autonomous vehicle systems to find their positions and safely chart courses, according to a new report.

The report — published by the Center for Advanced Defense (C4ADS), a nonprofit intelligence firm focused on worldwide security issues — found that at least 9,883 instances of spoofing occurred near sensitive areas in Russia and Crimea and during times when high-ranking officials, such as President Vladamir Putin, were present.

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Ars Technia: Microsoft discover Huawei driver that opened systems to attacks.

...it wasn't malware that was injecting and running code in a user process; it was a Huawei-written driver. Huawei's driver was supposed to act as a kind of watchdog: it monitored a regular user mode service that's part of the PCManager software, and if that service should crash or stop running, the driver would restart it. To perform that restart, the driver injected code into a privileged Windows process and then ran that code using an APC—a technique lifted straight from malware.

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Technocracy: Sweden expected to force banks to handle cash transactions.

Technocrats pushing for a cashless society are seriously conflicted as its flagship experiment in Sweden is coming unravelled. The people in Sweden have spoken, and cash stays. ⁃ TN Editor

Sweden will likely push through a proposal to force banks to keep offering cash to customers who require it as the Nordic nation grapples with how to balance the rapid transformation into a cashless society.

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Security Week: Ransomware hits aluminum giant Norsk Hydro.

Norwegian metals and energy giant Norsk Hydro, one of the world’s biggest aluminum producers, has been hit by a ransomware attack that has impacted operations, forcing the company to resort to manual processes.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Norsk Hydro representatives revealed that the attack, which they described as extensive, started on Monday at around midnight, Norway time, when the company’s security team noticed some unusual activity on its global network. They said the ransomware is designed to encrypt files, but they have yet to determine exactly which malware family it belongs to.

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C|Net: Twitter birthday prank will lockout your account.

The hoax, which appears to have begun making the rounds on Monday, promises to make users' feeds more "colourful" if they change the birth year in their profile to 2007. An early tweet on the trick has been retweeted more than 13,000 times[.]

Tech News

ArsTechnia: A history of Japan's car industry.

Hit the link. Check out the image gallery of cars.

Extreme Tech: Best cars of the 2019 Chicago auto show.

Hit the links in the link for more images.

Technocracy: Self-driving cars are INCREASING urban congestion.

Self-driving cars will likely jam up downtown streets by cruising at slow speeds rather than parking, according to a new analysis published in the journal Transport Policy. Using game theory and simulated traffic models, report author Adam Millard-Ball found that the vehicles will be incentivized to circle streets rather than pay for parking.

According to Millard-Ball’s model, even as few as 2,000 self-driving cars in downtown San Francisco could slow traffic to less than 2 miles per hour.

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Tech Dirt: Italy tells EU to drop Articles 11 and 13 in copyright reform.

Italy... has now made a pretty clear statement that if the country is going to support the latest directive, it needs to protect the users of the web, and the only way to do that is to remove Articles 11 and 13.

Good for Italy!
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ZD Net: Will Robot love fulfill emotional needs?

I wonder...how close are we to the era of when our robots will need shrinks?

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Beta News: Spotify to ban ad-blockers.

Under the heading "the following is not permitted for any reason whatsoever" Spotify lists, among other things:

   - circumventing or blocking advertisements in the Spotify Service, or creating or distributing tools designed to block advertisements in the Spotify Service[.]

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TechSpot: Senate investigations into government workers use of VPNs.

Recent months have been filled with news of international cybersecurity concerns and foreign meddling, and now two US Senators are going after a new target – virtual private networks (VPNs) used by governmental employees.

Who are the two senators? Marco Rubio (Republican) and Ron Wyden (Democrat).

10,000 to one odds that, three weeks ago, there might have been two - at most - two senators, who know what a VPN is.  This is similar to when John McCain was convinced the 2016 presidential election was hacked, and he pretended to know about hacking, yet didn't know what an exit node is. Sputnik News:

When questioned by a Sputnik reporter following the hearing about the debunking of the Joint Annual Report by security experts, including the finding that 43 percent of the IP addresses attributed to ‘Russian hackers’ were generic web-browser Tor exit nodes, the Senator responded by saying that he had “no idea” what she was talking about.

Lawmakers getting involved in Tech. Again. You have better odds in uniting the properties of water and electricity.
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Tech News World: Wireless carriers really selling our data.

AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint have sold access to subscribers' real-time location data to aggregators, which in turn have sold it to about 250 bounty hunters and related businesses, Motherboard reported Wednesday.

In some cases, the data allowed users to track individuals to their specific locations inside a building.

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Gizmodo: Washington state's snow-induced mayhem.

Yeah, and hey, Washington, your snows keep coming our way, hitting the central Midwest. So...stop it!
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Computer World: Apple is disabling Safari's "do not track" feature.

The list of online entities who do not respect DNT requests includes all the usual privacy-eroding suspects, such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Medium, Pinterest, and Reddit do honor these requests, which rather suggests you can find alternative ways to make a business.

World News

EU (still) Making Sausages Reforms in Copyright Laws

This is a Must Read by, and at, Julia Reda.com. 

Article 13 is almost finished – and it will change the internet as we know it.

... EU copyright reform law have resumed: After missing the original Christmas deadline, negotiators for the European Parliament and Council are now aiming to finalise the text on January 21, 2019.

The negotiators have reached agreement on the core of Article 13, which will change the internet as we know it: They want to make internet platforms directly liable for any copyright infringements their users commit.

What remains to be decided: Exactly what lengths will platforms need to go to to avoid or limit their liability? Just how much they will need to restrict our ability to post and share our creations online?

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NYT: New caravan forming in Honduras.

More than 300,000 Central Americans entered Mexico last year, most of them illegally, and an estimated 80 percent of them were bound for the United States border, Ms. Sánchez Cordero said.

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Reuters: PG&E multi-billion dollar bankruptcy?

PG&E, which carries a hefty debt load of more than $18 billion, is expected to soon disclose a large financial charge related to liabilities resulting from catastrophic November blazes.

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France 24: Macron looks to calm the Yellow Vests.

Macron's initiative comes after nine weeks of protests by the "yellow vests" -- named after the high-visibility jackets they wear. The disparate anti-government uprising has wreaked havoc in Paris and French cities, shaken the economy and challenged his authority.

BBC: Yellow Vests disable 60% of speed cameras.

Good for them!
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Sky News: Polish mayor stabbed on stage.

Pawel Adamowicz, who is the mayor of Gdansk, was attacked in front of hundreds of onlookers in the city during an event in aid of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity.

Doctors said he underwent five hours of surgery for wounds to his heart and abdomen but that "the next hours will decide everything".
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According to Polish broadcaster TVN, the suspect shouted from the stage and claimed that he had been wrongly imprisoned by the previous government.

Sky News: Stage of stabbing attack.

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The Diplomat: China's interest in Antarctica, space, the moon AND Antarctica.

China views exploration of outer space as part of its overall national development. Its space-based BeiDou 2 system aims for global coverage by 2020. Furthermore, China aims to have a human-crewed space station by 2020-22 and a space-based solar power station by 2050, all to protect China’s national interests. Comparable to its actions in Antarctica, Chinese nationalistic goals and somewhat imperialistic advance will likely determine the shape of future conflict.

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ING: Why a Brexit delay is likely.

 ...it’s worth noting that there are at least two ways the law-making process alone could force a Brexit delay.

BBC: "Brexit Box" survival kits flying off shelves.

"People from all over the UK are buying it and those that can afford more are purchasing more than just the Brexit box, perhaps the three-month or six month packs."

BBC: Theresa May says no Brexit more likely than no deal.

Labour has vowed to table a vote of no confidence if Mrs May loses.

Its leader Jeremy Corbyn said Labour would vote against the deal and would start moves to trigger a general election if it is voted down.

Daily Mail: Boris stirs up the anti-Mays.

9 News: May says no deal means catastrophe.
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GLB News: The already overcrowded 2020 declared Dem presidential candidates.

Easier to raise hands if you're a Dem and not running for president.
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SMH: Australia, where some workers choose lifestyle over pay.
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Singapore Straits: Stowaway bird appears 12 hours into flight.

Business-class passengers [were] greeted by [ a mynah bird ]  about 12 hours into the flight. A typical Singapore-London flight takes about 14 hours.

My mind is completely blank. Can't think of a one-or-two-liner on the stowaway bird. Anyone?

EU Thumbs Down on Copyright Reform

So far, so good, on news with the EU Copyright Reform (EU CR).

The Globe Post - Parliament rejected the bill in a 318 to 278 vote. 31 lawmakers abstained.

The European Parliament voted against a proposed controversial legislation that would require internet companies and users to take more extensive measures to prevent copyright infringement, a bill that was denounced as a threat to internet freedom.

As is "the devil is in the details", the EU copyright reform is overflowing with the devil, especially with Article 11 and Article 13.

Why is this legislation important? Had it been approved, I don't think it would have crushed news aggregators, blogs, social media and others that reproduce copyrighted material. It would have made what now is a relatively simple and fair concept into a deeply tangled mess.

While there is the component of this being a U.S./EU copyright issue, the much bigger elephant to tackle - and really, it can't be - are electronic file formats.

Had the proposed EU Copyright Reform passed, it would have created a mountain of problems, the least severe being reproducing copyrighted text. Text is text. Far more unmanageable is regulating a myriad of electronic file formats.

One example from the failed EU CR is its lack of definition in licensing copyrighted material. ArsTechnia:

...the [EU CR] proposed law does not explain how [licensing] could be done for fragmented markets where there is no single licensing body. Alternatively, online services must "prevent the availability on their services of works or other subject-matter identified by rightsholders."

Image: CDev

This is nothing new, though. Ask the music industry about their track record regarding licensing and copyright. They've been trying to define and figure it out for decades.

Th EU CR is not a dead issue. The EU Parliament will revive this copyright reform in a few months. CDRinfo: 

Parliament's position will now be up for debate, amendment, and a vote during the next plenary session, in September.

Technology consistently out-paces attempts of its regulation and law. This will never change.

The EU cannot define what it wants to define. I'm not sure any type of government, coalition or organization can do what the EU is attempting. At least it isn't the UN sticking its finger in this pie. The EU CR was thankfully voted down. I don't think they're going to figure it out come September either.

World News - July 5, 2018

Some fun Independence day facts. Voice of America - Crunching Numbers of the 4th of July. 
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Sky News:  Meet the British divers who found the Thai football team trapped in the cave.

Rick Stanton and John Volanthen were the first rescuers to reach the group of young footballers and their coach[.]

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(At publishing time) British couple critically ill, exposed to Novichok nerve agent. Xinhua Net:

A British couple critically ill in hospital have been poisoned by the same nerve agent used in the recent attack on a former Russian agent and his daughter[.]
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Britain's most senior counter-terrorism cop [confirmed] that a couple from Wiltshire have been exposed to the nerve agent Novichok, and are both critically ill in hospital.

More: Dawn Sturgess, 44, and her partner Charlie Rowley, 45 fighting for their lives. The Express:

It is not thought the couple had links to Russia.

More: The Express: Timeline of key events in the Novichok poisonings.

More: RT News: Twitter awash in conspiracy theories:

What is claimed to be a new case of Novichok poisoning of an unsuspecting British couple has made Twitter explode, with users finding links between the incident and the World Cup, Brexit, and even alleging it was an inside job.

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The EU Copyright Issue:

(At publishing time) Here comes the vote on the EU's controversial copyright law. BBC:

The two most controversial parts of it are Article 11 and Article 13.
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The first of these is...called the "link tax."
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Article 13 puts more onus on websites to enforce copyright laws and could mean that any online platform that allows users to post text, images, sounds or code will need a way to assess and filter content.

More: The Register: Privacy group raises eyebrows at EU copyright reform.

... the idea of getting web giants to proactively stop copyrighted material from appearing online is a good one in theory, but in practice is fraught with danger.

More: CityAM: Will the EU copyright reform break the internet?  (Internet inventor Albert Gore, Jr. will be able to fix it!)

More: CityAM: Paul McCartney pro EU copyright reform.

More: Billboard: Is this the expected outcome of the vote?

More: Crooked Timber: When copyright goes wrong.

More: Japan Times: Wikipedia protests EU copyright by going dark.

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Houston Chronicle: Angel Merkel warns of worldwide financial crisis.

(Is she setting the stage for the "big world event" to crash the global economy? Is she the Illuminati's messenger of bad news?)
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Jaguar Land Rover have Brexit fears. Daily Mail:

A hard Brexit would cost Jaguar Land Rover £1.2billion a year curtailing its future operations in the UK, the British carmaker's chief executive warned yesterday.

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The Epoch Times - Stress tests for Canadian mortgages:

The new rules mandate that borrowers must qualify for interest rates 2 percent higher than the rate of the mortgage they apply for.

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BBC:  Kim Dotcom loses appeal against extradition:

New Zealand's Court of Appeal upheld the decision that Mr Dotcom and three others can be extradited to stand trial for copyright infringement and fraud.

The charges are related to Mr Dotcom's now defunct fire-sharing website Megaupload, which allowed millions of people to download digital content.
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It is now up to New Zealand's Justice Minister Andrew Little to decide whether extradition should take place.

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SMH: Sydney, a 24 hour city.

Round-the-clock public transport, less red tape for businesses, and a shift in the popular narrative that the city shuts down at night, are among the priorities identified by the City of Sydney's nightlife and creative sector advisory panel.

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The Express - China asks EU to join-up against the U.S. on trade and tariffs:

A European diplomat said: “China wants the European Union to stand with Beijing against Washington, to take sides.

“We won’t do it and we have told them that.”

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Trade War "D-Day" for Trump. The New Zealand Herald:

The first round of US tariffs - on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods - comes into effect on Friday night (NZT) and with it fears that we'll see the start of a full blown trade war.

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Is the Answer buying commodities? Live Mint:

...Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has poured cold water on the notion that a trade war between the US and China represents a serious threat to raw materials, saying most of them aren’t likely to be significantly impacted[.]
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[The] trade war impact on commodity markets will be very small, with exception of soybeans[.]

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Dealers arrested; had two tons of gold coins.  Trend News:

Iranian police arrested two gold coin dealers in Tehran, saying that the arrested people were responsible for gold coin price stagnation in the market.
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...police have seized 20 kilograms of gold coin and gold from [them].

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I hope this doesn't increase bacon prices. From The Hill - Tariffs will devastate US pork producers:

...some major U.S. pork producers fear they will lose a significant amount of money once China and Mexico implement the tariffs, forcing some to move their investments overseas.

Image: Pinterest