Jvitak

After developing software for Bitcoin for five years, Mike Hearn has sold his coins and is backing out.

In an article on Medium, Hearn details the multitude of reasons why Bitcoin has ultimately failed, such as a warring community, lack of necessary improvements on a system that has reached its limits, a dominating minority and lack of communication.

"Bitcoin is an experiment and like all experiments, it can fail," Hearn writes. "What was meant to be a new, decentralized form of money that lacked 'systemically important institutions' and 'too big to fail' has become something even worse: a system completely controlled by just a handful of people." Read more...

More about Currency, Fail, Tech, Bitcoin, and Mike Hearn

Netflix

Warning: Minor spoilers about the Netflix documentary series "Making A Murderer" ahead.

Steven Avery spent 18 years in prison for a rape he never committed. While Netflix's ubiquitous new documentary series "Making A Murderer" follows the Manitowoc, Wisconsin, native's next legal battle over the murder of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach, that much we know as fact.

While interviewing the victim of the rape, a Manitowoc County Sheriff's deputy, Judy Dvorak, casually mentions that the victim's description of the man responsible sounds like Avery. 

It's a classic example of what law enforcement calls "interview contamination" — letting details about an offense slip to witnesses or suspects, leading them to believe and repeat these facts, often later used as testimony.

Of the US prisoners thus far exonerated by DNA evidence, 27% involved false confessions or admissions, according to the Innocence Project. Whether intentional or not, this type of police misconduct frustrates much of America and leads to sometimes-irreparable damage.

Decades ago, the UK encountered a similar roadblock to fair policing. A national law, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984 [PACE], however, subsequently required officers to videotape their interviews, among other provisions. It nearly solved the problem.

"In the 70s, the same thing that the US is going through now, the UK was experiencing," Andy Griffiths, a 30-year-veteran of the Sussex Police, told Business Insider in an interview. He says the problem was easier to spot because most of the UK's cases came through a lone supreme court. 

"With PACE, that all changed. It brought in this hugely important thing called the 'custody officer.' Anytime somebody was arrested or you wanted to do anything with the suspect, you had to go to the custody officer, who had nothing to do with the investigation," Griffiths said. PACE also instituted mandatory interview recording.

"Making A Murderer" suggests police may have contaminated another interview with Brendan Dassey, one of the key witnesses to Avery's alleged involvement in Halbach's murder. Case investigators Tom Fassbender and Mark Wiegert question Dassey, a learning-disabled 16-year-old, about the violence he and Avery allegedly inflicted upon Halbach.

The officers say they know Dassey and Avery did "something with the head" of Halbach and that they "have the evidence." After Dassey admits that Avery cut off her hair, punched her in the head, and made him cut her throat, the investigators still pressure him for more information. 

Finally, one of the investigators loses his cool. "All right, I'm just going to come out and ask you. Who shot her in the head?"

Brendan responds: "He did," referring to Avery.

Investigators: "Why didn't you tell us that?"

Brendan: "'Cause I couldn't think of it."

Regardless of whether viewers believe Dassey or think investigators violated any protocol, Dassey later tells his mother they "got into his head." 

Netflix

Granted, officers did tape that interview, which appears (edited) in the documentary series. In the US, however, police aren't required to tape interviews, like the UK has mandated. In fact, only about half of states have implemented some sort of recording statutes for police.

And as it turns out, the details officers use to shape witness statements could have an effect on the witness' memories themselves, according to research from Elizabeth Loftus, a psychology professor at the University of California-Irvine, as flagged by CNN. 

Videotaping interviews could also highlight other questionable tactics police use to gain confessions: minimization — saying a violent assault was a "bit of a fight," for example — and even more simply, lying. It's lawful for US police to lie to suspects to pry information out of them, which highlights another major difference between US and UK policing — officers across the pond cannot lie. 

"Videotaping interrogations is a fantastic idea," Shawn Armburst, a professor at Georgetown Law and the director of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, said at the New Yorker Festival in October. "The interrogations are better, and when police officers testify, they've got the tape to back it up." 

PACE implemented other important provisions, as well. It gave psychologists access to police interview recordings, which "showed that police officers were unskilled interviewers, they were bullies, they coerced people, they just didn’t have any idea what they were doing," Griffiths said.

PACE also instituted a one-week training program, which specifically designated 140,000 police officers as "interview officers." Under this new program, UK officers who wanted to interview suspects had to apply, pass an assessment, and become accredited. 

"If you ask any officer in the UK now, 'What’s the purpose of an interview?' they’ll say 'to get information,'" Griffiths said. "They don’t even say, 'to prove the guilt or innocence.' We’ve changed the mindset." 

No national law requires such training in the US. 

"When [PACE] came down, UK police felt it would stop them from doing their jobs. I've heard the same thing from US officers. But now, no one would go back," Griffiths said.

Though "Making A Murderer" failed to include several pieces of evidence against Avery and Dassey, lawyers have said that police conduct in the series "almost made [them] physically ill."

NOW WATCH: A law professor tricked his students into lying, which shows why you should never talk to police

REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Twitter is banking on Jack Dorsey’s vaunted tech prowess to pull the company out of its slump.

But three months into Dorsey’s new gig as Twitter CEO, he's mostly been displaying his skill as a salesperson so far. 

With Twitter’s stock languishing at its lowest point ever and employees losing faith, the 39-year-old Dorsey has had to do double duty, selling people inside and outside the company on Twitter's prospects.

Dorsey, who splits his time as CEO of the newly public digital-payments company Square, has yet to publicly unveil a major new strategic blueprint or to enact any sweeping operational changes at Twitter, according to people familiar with the matter.

Instead, the first few months have primarily involved subtler, behind-the-scenes changes aimed at fixing immediate problems and tweaking the product, working to improve morale, and putting the company on firmer footing for a comeback. Twitter declined to comment for this story.

Pep talks

REUTERS/Lucas JacksonStopping the brain drain has been one of his top priorities so far.

“When people are pissed off and want to leave, he will sit down with them,” said one person familiar with the matter. “He can be very convincing.”

Indeed, the person mentions several Twitter employees who were on the brink of leaving, but were talked off the ledge after a Dorsey pep talk.

“I don’t think we’re talking about committing to stay another year, but maybe for a little while to see if things improve,” the person said.

Dorsey’s powers of persuasion have not always succeeded, most notably when a trio of star product execs left in July, when Dorsey was still serving as interim CEO. And with so many valued employees considered flight risks, Dorsey risks spending too much time on employee interventions.

“The word on the street is that everybody is vulnerable” to leaving, this person said.

Recruiting new talent is also a challenge. Dorsey scored two high-profile coups by bringing on Googler Omid Kordestani as executive chairman, and rehiring Jessica Verrilli in its corporate-development group to oversee consumer M&A. But the top corp-dev job has been vacant for months. And the company has struggled to convince other potential recruits to come aboard, sources say.

Outside the company, Dorsey has embarked on a charm offensive, meeting with shareholders and clients to sell the Twitter story, including a spree of meetings with marketers in Las Vegas this month at the Consumer Electronics Show.

A delicate balancing act with Square, but no train wrecks

REUTERS/Lucas JacksonDorsey helped create Twitter in 2006 and served as its first CEO before being ousted in 2008.

He was called back over the summer to replace Dick Costolo, who left after Twitter’s user growth stalled and investors revolted.

The big wrinkle in the story: Dorsey has another full-time job as CEO of Square, which just went public and is a few blocks away from Twitter's San Francisco headquarters.

That has made for a somewhat unorthodox first 90 days at the helm of Twitter. Dorsey is working full-time at both companies, using his famously compartmentalized-scheduling discipline to make the 15- to 18-hour workdays manageable.

Mornings are spent at Twitter, afternoons at Square; Mondays are for senior-management meetings at Square and Twitter, while Wednesdays and Fridays involve 30-minute “check-ins” with various managers, according to a person familiar with the matter.

There have been some bottlenecks, particularly during the Square IPO roadshow in November. Personnel and compensation decisions at Twitter that required Dorsey’s sign off, for instance, were slowed, another source familiar with the matter says. But overall, Dorsey has so far managed to balance both jobs without any major train wrecks.

Dorsey has also started to hold long weekly meetings with top Twitter lieutenants, followed by in-depth reports of the discussions that are disseminated internally — a practice that Dorsey imported from Square.

The transparency has been praised by many and has helped instill a sense of unity and mission across the company. But the practice is also something of a double-edged sword, as it has exposed some of the high-level disagreements among executives about strategy and direction. For employees who are considering leaving Twitter, seeing the lack of alignment at the top can be unsettling and doesn’t help persuade them to stay, the source said.

Small changes so far

REUTERS/Lucas JacksonTwitter has also maintained a steady drumbeat of product changes since Dorsey took over, including releasing the new Moments feature, which helps organize tweets around live events, and integrating Periscope videos directly into the stream of tweets.

Dorsey has hinted at an even bigger change, suggesting that Twitter could move beyond its trademark 140-character limit, letting people post longer tweets, perhaps even up to 10,000 characters, as Re/code reported earlier.

Is it enough?

Twitter’s fourth-quarter earnings report, slated for February 10, should provide more insight into Dorsey’s plans to revamp the business, and whether these changes have helped the business so far.

As one source noted, incremental changes are necessary, but perhaps not sufficient. What Twitter really needs, the person argued, is someone to concede that Twitter has officially lost the battle against upstarts like Instagram and Snapchat, and to have the courage to try something completely new. That is the kind of vision that many Dorsey fans are really banking on.

NOW WATCH: The full story of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is much more awesome than you realize

One of the men occupying the Malheur wildlife preserve building in Oregon has, finally, been arrested. Why? Because he drove off in one of the feds' trucks.

The Oregonian reports: "Kenneth Medenbach, 62, of Crescent, was arrested on suspicion of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, a class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison. He was to be booked into the Deschutes County Jail in Bend with bail set at $10,000, officials said."

Two trucks were impounded, and it's not clear if they know who was in the other one or what that person's fate is. Evidently, the two had decided to go shopping at Safeway, having become tired of the diet of candy cock that Americans are mailing in response to their pleas for groceries.

Livebroadcasting2016

Donald Trump's campaign typically kicks off his rallies with a playlist of bombastic pop hits.

Wednesday's rally was in large part no different. Only this time, the music was accompanied by a trio of children singing and dancing to an original song dedicated to the Republican presidential front-runner himself.

"Cowardice, are you serious? Apologies for freedom — I can't handle this! When freedom rings, answer the call!" they blared. "On your feet, stand up tall! Freedom's on our shoulders, USA! Enemies of freedom face the music. Come on boys, take them down!"

The group, which calls itself the USA Freedom Kids, was formed by Jeff Popick, a Trump supporter whose 8-year-old daughter, Alexis, is one of its members.

"Donald Trump far and away is the No. 1 guy to protect our freedoms. And we need that because we're coming off the heels of a guy who doesn't even get the concept," Popick told Business Insider in a phone interview on Thursday.

Popick himself wrote the lyrics for the Trump tribute song. He said it was originally written about US Army Gen. George Patton, whom he revered since he first saw the 1970 biopic, "Patton."

After watching Trump's campaign-announcement speech in June, the self-described band-manager and lyricist said he was inspired to make a more contemporary alteration to the song on the fly.

"I was watching when Donald Trump announced his candidacy, and he talked about the need for a strong military. And I remember him saying that, 'We're going to find the next Gen. George Patton," Popick said. "When Donald Trump said that, I was inspired to make it even more contemporary than it already was, and make it more about Donald Trump."

Popick has major ambitions for the group, whose three main members are under the age of 12. Those kids have been working together for about six months after Popick and a former "Kidz Bop" employee assembled the group together during casting calls in South Florida.

The group is currently in the studio recording covers of classics like "America The Beautiful" and "Grand Old Flag," and has shot a music video inspired by the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But Popick said the group is focusing most on recording re-interpretations of older patriotic songs set to what he described as a combination of "electronic dance music, hip-hop, and dub-step," an EDM subgenre.

Youtube Embed:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/atL6l-nAKo0
Width: 560px
Height: 315px

Popick said he first reached out to the Trump campaign, concerned that he could be sued over the song. Instead, they began a dialogue with the campaign that eventually led the USA Freedom Kids to open for Trump at his Wednesday-night rally.

Asked about whether the children's families were concerned about the political nature of the lyrics, Popick said the parents of the other children in the band were "very supportive" of the his decision to dedicate the song to Trump, and were Trump supporters themselves.

"It wasn't a requisite or prerequisite for them, but yeah, we are all on board," Popick said.

Popick said he's hoping that the Trump track isn't a one-hit wonder, but is instead a launching pad for the group's patriotic and political tracks. USA Freedom Girls already released a song called "National Anthem Pt. II," a song about "riding the wave of freedom."

And "there may be one other song that is, if you want to say, political," Popick said.

"For me, it is all about freedom," he said.

NOW WATCH: Fashion designer Nicole Miller reveals what Donald Trump is really like

This post also appears on Wearable.ai, which interviews the innovators in wearable computing, IoT, and AR. For inquiries, please contact publisher Mark Brooks.

We spoke to Mark Gainey, CEO and cofounder of Strava, a social network for athletes that makes use of GPS devices and other wearables to create what they call a "social fitness" experience. Strava uses  the vast amounts of data being collected by various connected devices to provide motivation, track stats, record maintenance, and status of gear and equipment, and encourage camaraderie among its members.

In this interview, Gainey explained why he thinks wearables will continue to make fitness a more enjoyable and seamless part of our everyday lives.

Courtney Dickson: How was Strava founded? What were your inspirations?

Mark Gainey: Michael Horvath and I started Strava in 2009. We both rowed crew at Harvard in the late ’80s and thrived on the camaraderie and motivation of training with teammates. The idea for Strava came simply from our desire to recreate the positive forces of our crew experience when we no longer had the structure and support of a team. 

In its simplest form, Strava was a "virtual locker room" where we could share workouts among friends. We started Strava with a focus on cycling, and added running in 2011. Since its founding in 2009, Strava has grown from a handful of users to millions of athletes around the world. Our mission is simple—to motivate and inspire our members in ways that unlock their potential.

CD: Strava is known for being more than just a way to log workouts. It's a social fitness app that encourages users to connect with each other. As more and more people are buying and using wearable devices to track their fitness, what changes have you seen in how users are interacting in the Strava community?

MG: Millions of cyclists and runners around the world not only track and analyze their training with Strava but also use it as their social channel to connect with other athletes and stay motivated. Almost 90% of all Strava athletes follow another athlete on Strava, and the average Strava member engages with Strava 5-7 times a day. According to our members, "If it’s not on Strava, it did not happen."

Strava is growing rapidly and is truly global. We add over 100,000 new members every week, and almost 80% of our athletes live outside the US. We have activities on all seven continents and in over 180 countries.

We see our members interact with Strava in a number of different ways. We are now compatible with over 150 different GPS devices. So our athletes can track their activities in whatever way they find most convenient. And then they can seamlessly upload to Strava via our mobile apps and website.

CD: What sets Strava above the competition?

MG: Talk to most of our competitors, and you’ll find they refer to their audience as users, not members. Talk to a Strava athlete on the other hand, and they will tell you they may have "downloaded" other fitness apps, but then they "joined" Strava. We are for more than an app. We are a community.

Strava designs products for passionate athletes. They love their sport, strive to improve, and want to connect with people who feel the same way. We feel that we’ve built the best home for this kind of athlete, and that’s what separates us from our competitors.

Our athletes are fully engaged, online and offline. They support each other on Strava. We have an inspirational, passionate community that I believe is unmatched.

CD: Beyond smartwatches and fitness trackers, what other connected devices are being used with the platform, or would you like to incorporate in the future?

MG: We support data input from nearly 150 third-party devices, including everything from Garmin bike computers to Fitbit wearables and shirts with integrated sensors. We have built our own training apps for iOS, Android, Android Wear, and Apple Watch. This allows us to analyze everything from GPS data to physiology and nutrition data. As our athletes add more connected devices to their daily fitness lives, we are dedicated to helping them bring context and color to the information collected.

CD: Where do you see the wearables market heading in the next 5 to 10 years, and how will Strava adapt to keep up?

MG: We see the integration of fitness sensors becoming even more seamless—in clothing, in bicycle frames, in running shoes, et cetera. And we expect these wearable devices to provide more in-depth data and feedback. With our focus on our passionate athletes, we will continue to design technology that provides motivation and inspiration for our members. Strava is always innovating to serve the athletes. We seek to inspire and unlock potential. We're a company full of athletes, so designing products that leverage our wealth of data and athlete insights to help athletes improve is at our core.

Screenshot courtesy of Strava

For interviews with the innovators in Wearable Computing, IoT, and AR, subscribe to the Wearable.ai newsletter.

Some people never learn their lesson. For others it only takes six lines of monotony

In today's episode of Kids being funny or adults lying for Internet points, we bring you a clever kid who realized that writing things in repetition is actually a huge waste of time. Fortunately, the kid figured out an easier way

View post on imgur.com

After writing "I will make better choices" six times, the clever kid, who clearly made a poor choice that warranted such an assignment, realized they could easily connect some letters with the line below, thus saving precious moments of their dwindling childhood Read more...

More about Kids, Parenting, Funny, Watercooler, and Pics

Planned Parenthood filed a federal civil suit on Thursday against several individuals representing the Center for Medical Progress, the anti-abortion group that secretly recorded Planned Parenthood staff and executives discussing the donation of fetal tissue

The suit alleges that CMP project lead David Daleiden and five other people broke state and federal law by creating false identities, engaging in mail and wire fraud, breaking confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, and violating privacy by illegally recording conversations. It also names CMP and BioMax, a fake medical firm, as defendants Read more...

More about Politics, Us World, Us, Planned Parenthood, and Reproductive Rights

Sorry, kid — not today.

A 6-year-old's valiant effort to procure an advance in his allowance for a toy was unfortunately denied by the bank DAD Savings and Loan. The financial institution, clearly run by his father, owns the tagline any parent could relate to: "Because, apparently I look like I'm made of money."

View post on imgur.com

One of the kid's parents submitted a picture of the boy's rejection letter to Reddit, citing insufficient funds in his account, as well as a history of not doing chores. Additionally, the child's request was rejected due to discretionary spending after the Christmas holiday. Read more...

More about Pics, Parenting, Funny, Watercooler, and No Lead Image Template

Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Flickr/Anders Lejczak

When's the last time you really got into it with your significant other? After the yelling was done, did your mind swirl with ideas about what you should have said? Or perhaps about what you should not have said?

Here's the good news: Not only can you most likely rectify the situation, but also knowing how to approach the argument next time can mean you and your partner have a more productive — and perhaps less volatile — "discussion."

Productive arguments, in fact, are one of the things that appear to distinguish couples who stay together from those who split, according to research from several psychologists, including University of Washington psychology professor John Gottman, founder of the Gottman Institute, an organization dedicated to studying and improving relationships.

Together with University of California at Berkeley psychologist Robert Levenson, Gottman conducted a 14-year study of 79 married couples living across the US Midwest.

Among the couples they studied, 21 ended up divorcing over the more than decade-long period. But among those who stuck it out, Gottman and Levenson noticed some key things about their relationships, including how they fought. Here are some of the key takeaways:

How couples who stay together argue

1. They stabilize a rocking boat.

Flickr/Anders Lejczak

Among the couples who split, the vast majority took far longer to address a recent argument than those who stayed together, often leaving each other to stew in individual thoughts for hours or days after a fight, Gottman told Business Insider. Conversely, couples who stayed together would typically discuss their arguments almost immediately after they'd happened.

Picture yourself and your partner in a boat, Gottman suggested. Now imagine that the emotions you and your partner are feeling are represented by the sea around you. A small argument stirs the waters a bit and gets the boat rocking. But a quick effort to stabilize the boat — with an open conversation or an apology — can be all that's required to get you back to smooth sailing.

Waiting around, on the other hand, only strengthens the waves. And waiting too long, he said, can lead to disaster.

To calm a rocking boat, Gottman suggests you and your partner talk immediately and openly about what just happened. This requires recognizing that both of you are partially responsible for the problem and both of you are responsible for making amends.

2. They allow the other person to be heard.

Flickr/Anders LejczakAnother characteristic of couples who later divorced that Gottman observed is that they'd frequently cut off discussions about a conflict prematurely with unhelpful, insensitive comments. But strong couples tended to consistently approach one another with an open mind, taking responsibility for their actions and listening to what their partner had to say.

So if, in the middle of an argument, you stop your partner to them they're being illogical, you're probably doing it wrong.

"If you tell someone they're not being logical or say something like 'you're getting off track,' it just doesn't work. It makes people angry," said Gottman. Instead, saying something like: "I can see that this is really important to you; tell me more" allows the other person to feel heard.

What other research says

More recent psychological research builds upon Gottman and Levenson's work.

A study of 145 couples published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology last year found that couples who received trainings on how to address conflicts immediately and with clear communication felt more satisfied with their relationship a year down the road than couples who didn't get the training. Those who didn't receive the training were also more likely to see their interactions deteriorate over the year they were reporting back to the researchers.

And a 2010 study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family that looked at 373 married couples found that, when both partners engaged positively during an argument — meaning they discussed the topic calmly and made an effort to listen to their partner and better understand his or her feelings — they were far less likely to divorce than couples where there was no positive engagement or when only one partner would engage positively. The results held steady as far as 16 years down the road.

So next time you feel an argument escalating, try one of these tactics. It might restore some calm to your relationship, or even help keep your boat from capsizing.

NOW WATCH: Here's how much sex happy couples have every month

Fox

We're not at "Minority Report" levels of law enforcement just yet, but police departments may be getting close.

A new piece of software in place at the Fresno Police Department in central California uses huge batches of data, ranging from criminal history to Twitter feeds, to assess how likely someone is to commit a crime and whether the police ought to keep tabs on them.

Fresno's program, one of the first of its kind, according to The Washington Post, is the logical next step in a new era of law enforcement: one that uses number-crunching and computer algorithms to catch criminals, rather than solely relying on foot patrol and deep investigations.

The main criticism is that in hunting for legitimate criminals, law enforcement can accidentally sweep up law-abiding citizens. Then it's up to programs like the Innocence Project — a national non-profit that has used DNA and other forensic evidence to overturn more than 300 wrongful convictions since 1992 — to reverse the damage.

Fresno's program, called Beware, was built by the security company Intrado, which provides products and services to law enforcement, including telecommunication services for 9-1-1 calls, emergency location technology, and big data management.

In addition to keeping tabs on locals that it deems dangerous, Beware works behind the scenes as officers respond to calls.

When someone calls 9-1-1 to report criminal activity, the software get to work on scouring the internet, the deep Web, arrest records, vehicle registrations, address databases, property records, tweets, Facebook posts, and more.

The information then gets sent to the officers handling the call, which they can use to zoom in on possible weapons, drugs, or violent tendencies of people living nearby.

According to Intrado's online brochure, the software "identifies relevant information leading to safer outcomes for all parties involved" and "allows for proactive responses to any situation, anywhere, at any time in seconds."

But critics say that those "proactive responses" may turn out to be false negatives.

In November, the Fresno City Council addressed residents' concerns over Beware's mysterious and seemingly omnipotent power. One councilman, Clinton J. Olivier, requested his threat level be calculated right there on the spot. 

If the program's software produced a green threat level, it means the billions of data points came back clean. If the level is yellow or red, that may indicate a criminal record, suspicious online activity, or more (Intrado doesn't disclose its exact methodology).

As The Washington Post reports, Olivier earned a green rating. His home, however, came up yellow in the Beware system.

"Even though it's not me that's the yellow guy, your officers are going to treat whoever comes out of that house in his boxer shorts as the yellow guy," Olivier said. "That may not be fair to me."

Programs like Beware are likely to continue growing in popularity. The question moving forward is whether this is the most efficient and humane way to police a neighborhood.

Nothing makes people feel safer than a tight-knit community. If people trust each other and trust their local police department, there's little reason to live in fear.But places like Fresno are no longer prioritizing trust. They are prioritizing data, and we have no idea where that can lead.

NOW WATCH: This crazy iPhone case turns into a stun gun if you get robbed and calls the cops

AP

Over the course of the 1.3 million miles that Google's self-driving vehicles have cruised around public roads since September 2014, the cars failed 272 times, according to a new report for the Department of Motor Vehicles that Google just published. 

Each time, the cars "disengaged" from their autonomous mode, giving control to the the driver. 

Of the failures, 13 would have resulted in crashes, according to Google's simulations. 

There were 69 additional times when the drivers of the cars decided to take control of their own accord. 

Why?

Google's report lists a handful of reasons. The most popular: Perception discrepancies. In 119 cases, one of Google's cars disengaged because its sensors did not correctly identify an object. The example Google lists is one of its cars mistaking an over-hanging branch for an obstacle. 

The second most common cause of disengagement was software discrepancies. That's a catch-all category where Google lumps all situations where "apparent software inadequacies" don't fall into other categories (for example, this would include map or calibration problems). 

Here's a chart showing all of the causes for disengagement and how often they led to a car ceding control to a real driver:

AP

Late last year, the DMV drafted self-driving car rules that would force a licensed driver to be present in the front seat of an autonomous vehicle at all times. Google expressed its "grave disappointment" at this ruling, but the public interest group Consumer Watchdog took today's report as a sign that the move was prudent.

"The DMV got it exactly right and is putting our safety first," director John Simpson said in a statement on the report. "How can Google propose a car with no steering wheel, brakes or driver when its own tests show that over 15 months the robot technology failed and handed control to the driver 272 times and a test driver felt compelled to intervene 69 times?"

Google, on the other hand, is predictably optimistic.

"The number of autonomous miles we are driving between immediate manual control disengagements is increasing steadily over time," the company writes. 

Earlier today, the CEO of the autonomous car project, John Krafcik, reiterated that Google is fully committed to total autonomy as a way to dramatically cut down on vehicle-related deaths. 

NOW WATCH: This self-installing car seat is designed to eliminate human error

Using your iPhone and iPad at night is about to get a lot easier on your tired brain.

That's thanks to a new feature Apple previewed Monday called Night Shift, which will roll out as part of the upcoming iOS 9.3 update. The change allows you to automate changing the color temperature of your device's display, which can ease the strain on your eyes when looking at the screen at night.

Though the update isn't yet available to the public, I have already had a chance to check out the developer preview version of the software. Conclusion: it is almost everything I hoped it would be. Read more...

More about Iphone, Tech, Ios, Apps Software, and Apps And Software

The worst thing about drinking alone is... drinking alone.

Now you can leave your #ForeverAlone days behind with this robotic drinking buddy aptly called Drinky. Created by South Korean inventor, Eunchan Park, this automatic drink machine will raise its glass to your every "cheers" and down the shot in one swift gulp.

For more interactivity, Drinky will even flash you a thumbs up as its cheeks flushes after every shot.

The best thing? Drinky can literally hold its liquor — which is stalled in a jar that makes up its body — but like any drinking buddy, has its limit. So don't forget to empty the jar when it's full — you can recycle the alcohol — before it starts dribbling down its chin! Read more...

More about Robotics, South Korea, Bff, Gadgets, and Watercooler

The residents of the small New York village of Whitesboro voted last night to keep this emblem that appears to show a man choking a Native American. From the Associated Press:

In a non-binding vote Monday night, residents voted 157-55 to not change their current seal, according to Patrick J. O'Connor, mayor of the Village of Whitesboro.

Whitesboro's website says the emblem dates to the early 1900s and depicts a friendly wrestling match between village founder Hugh White and an Oneida Indian. It says White won the match and the lasting respect and goodwill of the Oneidas...

After a notice of claim was filed in the 1970s calling the picture offensive, a new version was drawn with White's hands on the Indian's shoulders instead of on his neck, (village clerk and historian Dana) Nimey-Olney said.

"New York village votes to keep logo that shows man choking Native American" (AP)

 Remember when HBO’s CEO said the company was cool with users sharing their HBO GO passwords? Well, apparently, Netflix feels the same way. In an under-the-radar announcement from last week’s CES – likely dwarfed by news of Netflix’s global expansion – Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that consumers sharing Netflix account information was “a positive… Read More

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

An appellate panel has ruled in favor of daily fantasy sports sites DraftKings and FanDuel, allowing both to continue operating in the state of New York while their appeal is being heard, according to Darren Rovell of ESPN.

The sites are currently appealing a ruling by the New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman who said daily fantasy sports is a form of gambling. Schneiderman has said that the sites violate state laws against gambling, calling daily fantasy a game of chance and not a game of skill.

"Our review concludes that DraftKings'/FanDuel's operations constitute illegal gambling under New York law," Schneiderman wrote in a letter.

Previously, a judge had ruled that DraftKings and FanDuel could not operate in New York for the duration of the ongoing case. However, that ruling was quickly overturned when a judge granted the pair an emergency stay.

The latest ruling upholds that stay.

The attorney general's investigation began after a report surfaced that said employees of the websites were winning a lot of money betting at the rival's website.

Jason Robins, CEO of DraftKings, has said that daily fantasy is not gambling, arguing that it is a game of skill, not chance.

"If you randomly picked a fantasy lineup and played against someone who put thought into it, they would beat you 9 times out of 10, if not more," Robins argued on ESPN. "So [daily fantasy is] pretty different, I think, from sports books where even though there is some advantage that can be had, the edges are so minimal that it is primarily chance-based."

Several other states have also banned daily-fantasy sports to some degree, including Nevada, where DraftKings and FanDuel were order to shut down in October.

NOW WATCH: The Philadelphia Eagles fired Chip Kelly and apparently players got the news on Twitter

Historian Albrecht Classen got so tired of hearing people blithlely assert that chastity belts were ever a thing that he wrote The Medieval Chastity Belt: A Myth-Making Process, explaining how a 15th century hoax that appeared in a manuscript that also feature fart jokes and devices for making people invisible became canon.

From Sarah Laskow: Read the rest

As the weather heats up, I find my wine tastes start to change. The hearty, rich wines that complement stews and roasts so well can feel heavy and overbearing as the temperature rises, especially if you’re outside.

When you find yourself on a patio or porch or heading to a park or beach, look to some different sections of the wine shop for the perfect wine.  

There are a few things I look for in general in a warm weather wine: acid, low/medium alcohol levels, and minimal oak. The acid stimulates saliva and conveys a brightness that is extremely refreshing. The lower alcohol content makes for a lighter wine that complements the warmer weather nicely and leaves you feeling much lighter than the big, bold wines you enjoy indoors. 

If you typically drink BIG wines like Cabernet Sauvignons or Malbecs, try a lower-alcohol version of those grapes or experiment with other low-alcohol varietals. 

Finally, wines aged in oak pick up flavors from the wood that can add a lovely complexity, but also make the wine a bit heavier and less refreshing. I love a note of oak on my wine, but tend to steer to wines aged without oak or with minimal oak when summer approaches. 

Here are some of my favorite, easy-to-find types of wines for warmer weather. 

A crisp Sauvignon Blanc. 

The Sauvignon Blanc grape contains a lot of acidity, and typically contains no oak.  You can find Sauvignon Blancs from most parts of the globe. Some of my favorite areas are New Zealand and France, but I enjoy many other areas as well.  

These wines are meant to be drunk young – typically within two years — so do go looking for newer vintages and screw top bottles, which are especially great on picnics. A really solid Sauvignon Blanc found virtually everywhere is the New Zealand standby made by Kim Crawford Vineyard. The price is right (typically under $15), and it's consistently good. 

In France, look for a Sancerre or a Pouilly-Fume. Both wines grow in the Loire Valley, which is ideally suited for Sauvignon Blanc. A very good, relatively common Sancerre I often recommend is the Pascal Jolivet Sancerre.  You can find recent vintages for under $20. 

If you're looking for similar types of crisp white wines for summer, try a Vino Verde from Portugal or Spain, or a Gavi di Gavi from Italy, or a Chenin Blanc from South Africa. 

Bubbly. 

We often save sparkling wines for celebrations. I say that opening a bottle of bubbly is itself a celebration! The carbonation and acidity make for a perfect warm weather drink. 

Of course, the most famous type of sparkling wine is Champagne. Yes, Champagne can be quite expensive, but a good bottle can be worth it. If you want to go upscale without breaking the bank, I recommend a non-vintage Pol Roger ($40 to $50) but you can certainly go big with great vintage bottles well north of $250. (As an aside, Winston Churchill drank a bottle of Pol Roger at lunch every day. Now that’s a lunch!)

But sparkling wine is made all over the world.  What’s more, these sparkling wines can be delicious and are typically much more affordable.  Some of my favorite easy-to-find sparklers are:  

• US sparkling wines: Roederer Estate Sparkling wine (Napa - $20), Gruet Brut (New Mexico! - $23), and Iron Horse Sparkling - especially their “Wedding Cuvee” (Napa - $30.)
• Italian Sparkling wines: Belle Casel (Prosecco - $17), Nino Franco Rustica (Prosecco - $15), Banfi Rosa Regale (Red, sweet sparkling - $18), and Lini 910 (Lambrusco - $15.)
• Spanish Sparkling wines: Augusti Torello Mata Brut Gran Reserva (Cava - $15) and Rovellats Gran Reserva Brut Nature (Cava - $25.) 

Rosé.

Rosés are my favorite warm weather wines. Perhaps it’s the pink color or the memories of your parents’ syrupy white zinfandel, but many people steer clear of rosé wines — and that's a mistake. Typically made from grape varietals that produce red wines, the wine makers reduce the amount of time the grape skins are in contact with the juice of the grape. 

This reduced contact reduces the tannin levels and intensity often found in red wines. The darker the pink, the longer the grape skin has been in contact with the juice. I love rosé slightly chilled on my patio with or without food.  

Nearly every part of the wine-producing world makes some type of rosé, but some easy-to-find, tasty options are:   

• Spain: Las Rocas Rosé (made from Grenache, $10)
• France: La Terre de Agnes Rosé (Sancerre, made from Pinot Noir - $18), and La Vielle Ferme (Rhone, made from Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault - $18.)
• US: Vallin Rosé (made from Syrah - $22) 

Beaujolais.

Often overshadowed by its more famous wine-making neighbors, the Beaujolais region of France produces some great, light red wines that are wonderful summer options for people who prefer red to white or pink.

There are 10 sub-regions in Beaujolais, and without going deep into the wine classification laws of France, I suggest you look for a Beaujolais from one of these specific sub-regions rather than look for a specific wine maker. 

Some are easier to fine than others, so I suggest you search out a Beaujolais from Morgon,  Bruilly, or Fleurie.  Winemakers typically reserve their best grapes for their “Cru Beaujolais” bottling.

To qualify for the “Cru Beaujolais” label, the grapes must all come from the same sub-region, and they typically demand a higher price than the Beaujolais or Beaujolais-Village classifications. 

Unlike Cru wines from other French regions, these wines won’t break the bank, and typically cost less than $25.  

No matter what you choose, don’t over-chill any of these wines. As the temperature of wine (or any beverage) approaches the freezing point, humans lose the ability to discern the flavors of that beverage. That’s why a really cold beer is so refreshing right out of the cooler, but may not be so great 15 minutes later.  I like my wine cool but not cold. Try it. You will taste much more at 50 -55 degrees Fahrenheit than you will at the 38 degrees of a typical refrigerator. 

While I encourage you to let your whites warm up slightly, I also think most of us are drinking our red wines too warm. Take that bottle of Beaujolais or Lambrusco and cool it for 30 minutes in the refrigerator, or put it in a bucket of ice water for 5 minutes.  

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Animated map of what Earth would look like if all the ice melted

Jon Stewart finally got to interview the former New York Times reporter whose stories helped bolster the US case for the war in Iraq – and it got ugly fast.

"I believe that you helped take us to, like, the most devastating mistake in foreign policy that we've made in 100 years," Stewart told investigative journalist Judith Miller.

On Wednesday, Miller stopped by the Daily Show to promote her new memoir, "The Story," in which she attempts to refute claims that her discredited New York Times stories linking Saddam Hussein to weapons of mass destruction gave the Bush administration the ammunition to convince the public that it was necessary to go to war.

In a testy 10-minute interview, Miller blamed unreliable intelligence sources, while the Daily Show host tried to demonstrate that Miller leaned too heavily on biased Bush administration sources.

"That's what the intelligence community believed," Miller said, referring to false information that showed Iraq attempting to enrich uranium before the US invasion.

"That's what they were feeding you," Stewart said.

The former journalist has maintained that various high-level officials got it wrong, and that she has been unfairly singled out for criticism. In the interview with Stewart, Miller noted that various lawmakers were also concerned that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was seeking weapons of mass destruction, naming then-Senators Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.

"Turns out, idiocy is bipartisan," Stewart replied.

After Miller refused to concede that she was any more to blame than intelligence officials and lawmakers, Stewart lamented that so few officals who believed that Iraq had WMDs have taken responsibility for their mistakes.

"I appreciate you coming on the program. These discussions always make me incredibly sad because I feel like they point to institutional failures at the highest levels, and no one will take responsibility for it, and they pass the buck to everyone but themselves," Stewart said. "It's sad."

Miller's 2002 reporting has been controversial since its release over a decade ago. The report was widely cited by Bush administration officials in the lead up to the war in Iraq as credible evidence that Hussein was seeking to obtain materials for a bomb. In 2004, the Times offered a tepid apology for the reporting leading up to the war, citing faulty sources.

Watch the interview below: 

 

 

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This simple exercise will work out every muscle in your body

For Chuck Norris, getting older is just a technicality.

The kung fu master, Texas Ranger and King of the Bowflex turns 75 today, much to the amazement of his countless hordes of enemies. Although many are well into retirement by age 75, Chuck is still very much in the public eye, having recently been seen in the kicking ass in the Expendables franchise and lobbying for Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential election.

Below, we've compared the similarities and differences between Chuck and the average male born in 1940.

Image: Mashable illustration Max Knoblauch Read more...

More about Illustration, Infographic, Chuck Norris, Film, and Watercooler

Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

When men are twenty-five years old, they are at their drinking peak: 13 drinks a week. Women peak at age 40, drinking about 4 alcoholic beverages a week. Read the rest

Unindexed is an online community that anyone can contribute to; it runs a back-end process that continuously scours Google for signs that it has been indexed, and securely erases itself once it discovers evidence of same. Read the rest

At 3:10 pm on October 2, 1998, 13-year-old Gregory Witman returned home from school. Seven minutes later, his 15-year-old brother Zachary dialed 911 to report finding Gregory brutally murdered in their laundry room. What followed was five years of appeals, scant evidence, and botched trials that eventually resulted in Zachary being charged with murdering his brother. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole. This documentary follows parents Ron and Sue Witman, 15 years after their lives were turned upside down.

Video courtesy of Shannon Sun-Higginson & Joe Lee

To learn more about the Witmans and their trial visit witmanproject.com

Follow BI Video: On Facebook

Join the conversation about this story »

There's officially a wearable for everything: A startup is working on a new wearable that notifies users minutes before they need to use the restroom.

The device, called D Free, is being marketed as a medical device for individuals with disabilities or other medical conditions. It's the project of Triple W, which will soon be launching an Indiegogo campaign to raise money to launch the device

Details are still scarce, but according to a promotional video, the wearable will be able to detect "activity in your intestines" — at which point an accompanying app will send you a push notification providing an approximate window of time that lets you know how much time you have to find a restroom Read more...

More about Indiegogo, Gadgets, Tech, Wearables, and Health Fitness

Former Red Sox pitching ace Curt Schilling is striking back at Internet trolls who attacked his daughter online with real-world consequences.

Last week, Schilling tweeted a congratulations to his daughter Gabby for being accepted into a college softball program at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island. But as Twitter users are wont to do, Twitter users responded with rape references and sexually explicit threats aimed at the 17-year-old

Then, on Sunday, Schilling penned a blog post outing some of the trolls, many of whom were suspended from schools, fired from jobs or kicked off sports teams.
Read more...

More about Twitter, Harassment, Entertainment, Conversations, and Sports

Prior to the NBA's trade deadline, Kevin Garnett was traded back to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team he spent the first 12 years of his career with.

The move was a coming home for Garnett as it united him with a fanbase that still loves him as he transitions into his post-playing career which will likely include purchasing a piece of the Timberwolves franchise.

Needless to say, the fans went crazy during Garnett's first game back with the T-Wolves. But outside of the pre-game introductions, the crowd hit its fever pitch when "Jiggly Boy" took off his shirt during a timeout and danced for the crowd with "Welcome Home KG" on his chest.

Garnett watched the dance routine as he returned to the court and at one point embarrassingly acknowledged the tribute.

But you will want to watch the full video to catch the full reaction from the crowd. It's great.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Cristiano Ronaldo, wearing a wig and glasses, surprised a young fan on the streets of Madrid

The newest craze has hit Boston: snow-diving.

In the wake of a series of heavy snowstorms, Boston is finding itself literally swamped with snow — so much snow, in fact, that there was talk for a while of dumping some of it into the Boston harbor. In the past month, the city has gotten more than seven feet of precipitation, and Bostonians are starting to come up with creative ways to make light of the situation.

One of the most entertaining, but also most dangerous, solutions: jumping out of windows and off roofs into piles of snow.

The snow jumpers are taking social media by storm. They have their own hashtag — #BostonBlizzardChallenge — on Twitter, Instagram, and Vine, and videos of the divers abound on YouTube as well.

Their antics aren't popular with everyone, though. Boston mayor Marty Walsh reportedly urged citizens to stop the practice immediately at a February 17 press conference. "You could kill yourself," he said, according to AccuWeather.com. "So I'm asking people to stop their nonsense right now."

Leaping into snow banks carries all kinds of dangers. Jumpers who leap from high heights could land on a buried object and seriously injure themselves. Or they could underestimate the depth of the snow and hit the ground much harder than they intended. Even people who jump from low heights could hurt themselves on broken glass or other sharp objects buried in the snow.

Unfortunately, as long as the snow remains there will probably be a few people who feel the need to leap into it from second-story windows and balconies. Here are a few more snow jumpers, as seen on YouTube.

WARNING: This behavior is extremely dangerous. Do not try this yourselves.

This guy leaping from the roof:

This four-story jump:

And this balcony jumper:

We can see why Mayor Walsh doesn't encourage this behavior.

SEE ALSO: The science of why it's so insanely cold in the Northeast right now

DON'T MISS: It's so cold out that Niagara Falls has partially frozen over

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Research Reveals Why Men Cheat, And It's Not What You Think