Yusuf Abdi Ali, a former Somali national army commander, is a pretty famous alleged war criminal, someone who's been profiled on major news media, deported from Canada over a failed claim of refugee status, arrested in the USA for lying about his participation in "genocidal acts" on his visa applications, currently embroiled in a lawsuit with someone who claims Ali tortured and shot him -- and now he works as a private airport security officer at DC's Dulles airport. (more…)
This orphaned baby rhino likes to walk with this girl to school in the morning.
Rhinos are endangered across Africa, as demand for their horn fuels ruthless criminal poaching networks. Ol Pejeta is the largest black rhino sanctuary in east Africa, and is also home to the last three northern white rhinos on the planet. When Ringo is ~4 years old, it is hoped he can be released into the wild.
(Thanks, McRaney!)
Warner Bros.' upcoming DC Comics movie The Flash has finally secured a director. Rick Famuyiwa, who directed last year's Dope, will helm the project, Deadline reports. Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) will star as the title character.
There are a lot of tiny little computers. The BBC, who makes a fine Sherlock product I watch on Netflix from time to time, has also made a tiny little computer. It's called the BBC Micro Bit, and it was foisted on a million unsuspecting children in the UK who apparently needed to brush up on their STEM.
What's weird is the Micro Bit is actually kind of cool. It's got lights, an accelerometer and compass, and a couple of buttons. It also can be programmed with an iOS or Android app over Bluetooth, so that's special. It's in kind of a class of its own — neither an Arduino or a Raspberry Pi.
Oh, and you can preorder one. For a while now BBC has been working to deliver on its original promise of free Micro Bits for young people, but...
Musician (and all-around awesome guy) Moby has been making a ton of super chill, relaxing music you can meditate to, do yoga to, sleep to, or just relax and get some work done to, and he’s made all of it available to stream or download, completely for free. Here’s the whole playlist.
We’ll embed the Spotify playlist here, but if you want to download the whole thing (or any of the tracks), hit the link below. The whole thing is about four hours, which is perfect for a long study session, a good chunk of the workday, or just breaking up while you do other things around the house—or heaven forbid, just try to relax. Moby explains:
over the last couple of years i’ve been making really really really quiet music to listen to when i do yoga or sleep or meditate or panic. i ended up with 4 hours of music and have decided to give it away.
you can download it for free below or stream it on spotify, soundcloud, apple music, deezer & tidal.
it’s really quiet: no drums, no vocals, just very slow calm pretty chords and sounds and things for sleeping and yoga and etc. and feel free to share it or give it away or whatever, it’s not protected or anything, or at least it shouldn’t be.
Here’s the full playlist:
And hit the link below to grab a copy for yourself, and enjoy.
long ambients1: calm. sleep. by moby
Here's Brian Brushwood showing how to do a great mentalism trick. The effect: Brian explains to the spectator that a psychologist once taught him about a famous Robert Frost poem that, when recited, will force the person who hears it to imagine a specific playing card. Brian then recites the poem to the spectator and asks the spectator what card he thought of. Then Brian tells the spectator to do a YouTube search on the psychologist who told Brian about it. The spectator plays the video and the psychologist says the same card the spectator thought of.
This welder was perched on a column when the roof collapsed around him. He didn't fall.
Humans have a tighter bond with dogs than perhaps any other animal. But figuring out exactly how that bond developed has been a huge, tantalizing challenge for researchers. Now, an ambitious study of canine genetics suggests that dogs’ history is even more complex than we thought — and that the animals we know now actually come from two separate groups of ancient domesticated wolves in Europe and Asia.
The study, published today in Science, is part of a major attempt by the University of Oxford to pin down the origin of the dog. Comparing the DNA of ancient and modern dogs, the researchers found a distinct genetic split between dogs from East Asia and Western Eurasia, an area comprising modern Europe and the Middle East. This split...
The very intelligent business people at VODOHOD River Cruises have hired two cats to oversee operations on their Nikolay Chernishevsky cruise ship. The ship cruises between Moscow and St. Petersburg, traversing several rivers and the Baltic Canal — the journey sounds truly lovely and involves a pit stop at a "Blood Church." Also two cats work on it!
These cats are so precious it almost makes up for the fact that drinking water ("water in ship restaurant") is not included in the price of the cruise. The only thing I don't like about these cats is that they are employed to look cute and wear great outfits, and that's not what I get paid for. My job isn't the most hard, but it's not as fun as being asleep in the sun all the time either. I...
The United States International Trade Commission, "an independent, bipartisan, quasi-judicial, federal agency of the United States that provides trade expertise to both the legislative and executive branches," has just tabled a deep, 792-page report on the likely economic benefits to the USA from the secretly negotiated, anti-democratic Trans-Pacific Partnership, and they predict that the agreement will deliver 0.01% growth to the US economy between now and 2032, when it will level off altogether. (more…)
Bryan Whitman -- familiar to many as the Pentagon's top spokesman during much of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- has settled a case with people who live near him in DC, who caught him repeatedly stealing the license plates off their nanny's car using a hidden camera. (more…)
Facebook appears to be testing a new option in its Android app among some users that will make the app use less of your precious geebees. However, it doesn't appear to be anything beyond a simple photo resolution switcheroo, reducing the size of images that appear in your News Feed so that downloading them consumes less data. Interestingly, the toggle for the feature is positioned directly at the top of Facebook's labyrinthine sidebar menu, which is prime real estate.
Read MoreFacebook Is Testing A "Use Less Data" Switch In Its Android App was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
Google's Keep had humble and simple beginnings, but it's become one of my go-to tools for organizing my life (such as it is). Today the web and desktop extension version of the service gets a revamp, with a new interface that takes more than a few hints from the Inbox layout.
Google Keep Gets A Revamped View On The Web, Plus Auto-Completing Lists, Link Previews, And Duplicate Detection was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
To help people find lost, stolen or misplaced personal effects with the proverbial touch of a button, a startup called Tile has raised $18 million in a Series B funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. For the unfamiliar, Tile makes square, waterproof tags that employ Bluetooth low-energy radio and GPS technology to find objects they’re attached to, like wallets, keychains, purses… Read More
On-demand companies like Uber and Airbnb may be coming under scrutiny in some European countries for allegedly contravening local laws, but today the European Commission threw them a line of support. The EC today published guidance that favors light-touch regulation of companies like these, noting that they should not require licenses to operate; that they do not necessarily have to… Read More
Another parliamentary committee that has been scrutinizing UK surveillance legislation currently before parliament says changes are needed to remove concerns the Investigatory Powers Bill would afford state security agencies powers that are too broad. Read More
There's only one set of presentation slides I look forward to every year, and that's Mary Meeker's annual Internet Trends report. In 2016, the highlight picked out by Meeker, partner at venture capital firm KPCB, is India's accelerating growth of user numbers in an otherwise decelerating market. She notes that, at 277 million, India's connected population is now greater than that of the United States and second only to China. This has come off the back of 40 percent growth over the past year, during which time the rest of the world has only inched up by 7 percent. India is now so big, in fact, that just by itself it adds 2 percentage points to the world's internet user growth.
India has been the next big opportunity for many years now,...
Microsoft acquired Minecraft maker Mojang nearly two years ago, and at the time it had sold more than 50 million copies across PC, Xbox 360, PS3, and other platforms. Microsoft is revealing today that Minecraft has now reached the 100 million sale milestone, having sold 53,000 copies per day during the course of 2016. It's a phenomenal achievement for a game that started off as a bedroom project, distributed initially as a Java applet on a web forum.
Minecraft quickly captured the imagination of thousands of gamers who loved the indie game's concept of allowing players to shape an environment by crafting and building constructions out of blocks. It has spawned a giant community that creates replica objects and YouTube tips on how to...
Google CEO Sundar Pichai, just two weeks removed from the keynote address at the Google I/O developer conference, sat down with Re/Code's Walt Mossberg at that publication's annual Code Conference.
It was a decent back and forth, without any real show-stopping nuggets of news, which isn't a huge surprise for this sort of thing. It's a conversation more than it is an interrogation, and Pichai put in a good half-hour.
A few highlights:
On machine learning and its importance for Google:
The actual way in which machine learning can do a much better job in many specific instances has been much more recent for us. About three years ago we felt we were at an inflection point. ... Mobile gives a great platform, a great way to do that.
On competing with the likes of Amazon and Microsoft and Apple on AI:
We've been doing it for a lot longer. So when you look at the scale at which we do it today — either in terms of the raw computational power we apply to it, how many years we've been doing it, or if you benchmark it in terms of any quality metrics ... those are the areas the difference really shows through. People have been asking questions to Google for a long time.
[Those companies] are phenomenal companies. It's not like Game of Thrones. It's more like the NBA championship or something like that. ... I think of it more like we're all bringing electricity to Westeros. We're not trying to kill each other.
And it's still early days for all of us.
On "what makes you think you can do this Google Home thing better than Amazon?"
In the next 5 to 10 years, building the true conversational understanding, and being able to have the dialog is where we plan to differentiate. The hardware is just a manifestation of that. We want to help people get things done. There's a lot of work ahead. We're at the 1 percent stage of what we can do here.
On Samsung being the only profitable large-scale partner for Android:
I've always felt Samsung is important for Android. They drive the high end of computing on the Android side. ... But Android is a very open ecosystem. The answer may not be a global one player. ... We've had many examples of regional players serve the needs of those markets.
Android is an enabler. ... It's a very complicated marketplace.
On the potential of Google making its own phones:
We today do these Nexus devices. _("Ahhhhhh, not made by you," Mossberg pressed. He was _really ) ... You'll see us put a lot more thought into our Nexus devices going forward. And there are categories beyond phones, like Home.
You'll see us thoughtfully add more features on top of Android. We could be more opinionated as to the design of the phone. ... Our plan is to still work with OEMs.
On China ...
We've always — and personally for me — care about serving users globally in every corner. And that applies to China, too. ... We aspire to do things like Google Play, where we can get our services working.
It's definitely something we would like to see more of. ... We are definitely open to it.
On messaging, and Google's work in RCS messaging and the upcoming Allo and Duo:
At a platform level, at an Android level, we call it RCS, and it's an evolution of SMS. We're working with the carriers to evolve the platform so we have an interoperable messaging standard. But it's not a Google service. It's an open-platform level thing. ... I would love to see messaging services be more interoperable. I would love to see users on iOS be able to message users on Android. [Almost certainly referring to Facetime] and vice-versa. ... I hope that we in the industry head that direction.
On the Daydream VR play:
Daydream to us is building the ecosystem ... To build VR well you need to build great hardware ... Just like we did with Android in its early days, Daydream is a way to create an end to end ecosystem around VR.
We're thoughtfully building it step by step.
On the EU complaints:
We are engaging thoughtfully with them. I think there are many areas in which they have thoughtful questions. ... It plays out sensationally in the press. They are looking it at thoughtfully. We are responding to it thoughtfully.
Most of the company is not consumed by it.
Imagine you’re getting ready to leave a busy restaurant after a long night out with friends. You’ve had a few too many and decide to call for a ride rather than to drive yourself. You pull out your smartphone and with a few taps a car is sent your way. When your car arrives, it looks like something out of a supercar magazine. Opening the passenger-side door, you discover that the vehicle that just pulled up is totally empty. Not just the passenger seat, but the driver’s seat as well.
This is the vision behind Zoox, a little-known Silicon Valley-based startup that is currently seeking a bumper round of funding that would value it at $1 billion before it has even picked up its first passenger.
See also: NuTonomy partners with Singapore for self-driving taxi fleet
So what makes Zoox so appealing to investors? For one, the popularity of ride sharing services like Uber and Lyft certainly helps. The one drawback to these services has long been local and state regulations over them. Ordinances were quickly introduced and passed in the spirit of defending Taxi services, as well as to ensure that drivers receive background checks that safeguard passengers from hitching a ride with someone that could have bad intentions.
Zoox takes the driver part of that concept away by creating an entirely autonomous fleet of cars that will drive to, pick up, and drop off passengers where they want to go.
Creating a disruptive startup in the heavily-regulated auto industry is tough. Zoox has a concept vehicle that would make it not only a transportation company, but its unique vehicle concept means that it has to design and build a vehicle that passes regulatory controls to make it street legal.
The concept was originally unveiled two years ago as an ambitious design that was really not expected to see the light of day at a time when autonomous vehicles were still in their early infancy. The design featured a four-seat configuration with no steering wheel or manual controls. Seats were arranged so they faced each other, enabling passengers to have a more natural conversation while the vehicle takes them to their destination.
This ambitious undertaking requires a lot of funding. Unlike other autonomous vehicle projects, Zoox’s doesn’t borrow from already-existing designs. Google was able to test its self-driving technologies on existing vehicles that were converted.
Another challenge for Zoox is competing in a market that includes top vehicle manufacturers and major brands like Tesla, BMW, Google, and potentially even Apple. Uber has made headlines as it uses the profits it’s making off its human-powered ride sharing service to purchase autonomous vehicles that may one day replace its drivers on the roadway.
Here’s one advantage Zoox already has in its corner. It is currently one of twelve companies that are licensed to operate autonomous vehicles in the state of California. Of those companies, Zoox stands apart as being a non-household name. There is another in the list, Cruise Automation, but it was purchased by General Motors this past March.
Indeed, Zoox has an uphill climb ahead of it, but if it can secure the $252 million it’s asking for in this funding round, it will be hard to ignore – even in the land of auto giants.
The post A Zoox cab ride looks pretty cool appeared first on ReadWrite.
The 16-year-old Japanese pop star Hatsune Miku, who just finished her first headlining tour in North America, doesn’t have a tour bus. She travels in a giant 18-wheeler full of miscellaneous stage equipment. That’s because she is equipment: Miku isn’t a real person, she’s a Vocaloid, or a virtual musician, whose music is created by "singing synthesizer" technology that mimics a human voice. (Her voice is sampled from the Japanese actress Saki Fujita and can produce several tones used to make music.)
But what band could be worthy of opening for the a virtual pop star’s first tour across the Atlantic? Anamanaguchi, the New York City band that has been making computerized chiptune music for more than a decade, seemed destined for the gig....
This system was designed to combat car jacking by shooting a jet of flames at anyone standing next to either side of the car. (more…)
Tiny houses have always appealed to me. This is likely because my childhood room was quite terribly tiny. Twin bed; desk at the foot of the bed; narrow space by the bed to walk to the bathroom; door. Much the same as a room in a Japanese businessman’s hotel.
Thus I find myself attracted to this new product from the Cozy Room company of Japan. It is essentially a room in a box with a fancy chair that slides in and out. When the chair is in, you are totally contained and, one hopes, “cozy.” Rocket News helpfully breaks down the name of this little getaway (“Kakureya”) as “a cross between the Japanese words kakureru (‘to hide’) and heya (‘room’).” I cannot help but be reminded of a space capsule, though it lacks the interplanetary scenery.
There are shelves for your collectibles or library, a desk on which to work, a slide out drawer under the desk for your computer keyboard, convenient ventilation and aromatherapy, a place to hang a flat screen TV, various drawers (small, of course). No kitchenette, I’m afraid.
I can envision many peaceful naps in there … shouldn’t the fancy chair really be one of those Japanese massage chairs?
I would modify mine with a pet flap for my cats — no room for the kitty box inside.
Of course, you must have a very large room in which to place this tiny room — somewhat of a paradox. And what would the neighbors think when they come over to watch a football game?
https://youtu.be/t3Q8m61orKMIf you’ve got a hankering to spend the rest of your life living in less space than a jail bird, Cozy Room’s website will sell you your very own cell of solitary confinement for a mere $7,900. Not sure how you can get one back to the U.S., but I have the feeling that this is a kind of Ikea deal where it comes flat and you have to assemble it yourself.
If that’s beyond your budget, then they will also sell you a box for $2,000; for many people, this might be sufficient.
Via Rocket News
For years, tech companies have received demands from federal law enforcement for users’ data — and they’ve had to keep those demands a secret. Today, Yahoo is finally able to share three of the National Security Letters it has received from the FBI.
The release of the three letters is the first time a tech company has been able to disclose specifics about the NSLs it has… Read More
Segway doesn’t mention hoverboards in today’s official Ninebot by Segway MiniPro availability announcement. Of course, it’s easy to see why the company would be so quick to distance itself from the incredibly popular but extremely problematic product category. For one thing there’s the whole exploding problem that has set in motion a scramble to better regulate… Read More
Google already lets Android users track their misplaced or stolen smartphones both through search and by using the standalone Android Device Manager app. Today, the company is adding yet another path to checking exactly where your precious device is on a map — and it even works with iPhones this time. Well, sort of.
Head to Google's My Account hub and you'll now see a new "Find your phone" option. Tap that, and you'll be able to make the phone ring at maximum volume, lock it (with a message and contact number on the lock screen), or locate its precise position using the Device Manager. Now all of this stuff applies strictly to Android; if you're on iOS, My Account will point you towards iCloud and Apple's Find My iPhone tracking. That's...
OnePlus will be dropping one of its signature features from its upcoming smartphone. And really, it’s a good sign for the Chinese smartphone maker. Previous generations of handsets have been regulated by an invite system, something put in place by the company early on as it attempted to find its place in a seemingly overcrowded market. All in all, the last few years have been pretty good… Read More
If you're noticing an increased amount of spam email in your Outlook or Hotmail account this morning, you're not alone. Microsoft's spam filters for its Outlook.com email service have been experiencing issues over the past 12 hours, and the company is attempting to fix the problems. "Some users may be receiving excessive spam mail," reads a warning on Microsoft's Outlook.com service status site.
Microsoft says it is currently implementing two fixes to solve the issue. "One will provide short term relief preventing spam reaching your inbox," reveals Microsoft. "The second will be a longer term fix which should stop spam reaching our infrastructure." Microsoft is currently in the middle of migrating its Outlook.com backend over to its...
All cars registered before 1997 will be banned in Paris as of July 1st, under a new law aimed at curbing the city's chronic smog and traffic problems. As Le Monde reports, the older cars will be banned from the city center during weekdays, as will all motorcycles registered before 1999.
The ban was announced last year as part of an anti-pollution measure that will become progressively stricter in coming years. By 2020, the ban will extend to cover cars that were registered prior to 2010. Those who violate the rule can face a fine of up to €35 ($39), or €78 as of January 1st 2017.