DJ Pangburn tells the story of how a spy linked to Black Cube was caught by Associated Press reporters and Citizen Lab.
Black Cube, which is based in Tel Aviv and London, has used undercover agents to approach women who had accused movie producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, and dispatched operatives to probe Obama national security aide Ben Rhodes and another White House staffer involved with the Iran nuclear deal.
It’s a long read but a fascinating story.
There is continuing, serious dread about the prospects of advanced artificial/augmented intelligence and the grave threat of climate change both threatening human life. But what if an unexpected synergy intervenes? What if AI techniques can be used to solve the very difficult problem of controlled nuclear fusion and provide abundant power? What if that meant we could abandon fossil fuels just in time to save the planet? The Verge investigates.
How fast is your connection? How much of that speed matters? How fast is your Mac? Why isn’t it faster? What devices can you see on your network? Why can’t you connect to all of them? This is what Mac Geek Gab is about. Posing questions, getting answers, and learning at least 5 new things. Learn your 5 now by pressing play!
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Michael is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic Magazine, a former monthly columnist for Scientific American, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University where he teaches Skepticism 101.
He is also a noted science writer and the author of New York Times bestsellers Why People Believe Weird Things and The Believing Brain, Why Darwin Matters, and The Science of Good and Evil. His newest book is: Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality & Utopia.
We chatted about Michael’s early religious views, interest in psychology, his doctoral work, and his path to becoming a professional skeptic. He explained the logical traps people fall into (motivated reasoning) as we turned to climate change, human fantasies about ghosts and psychics, the founding of Skeptic Magazine and the influence of Dr. Carl Sagan. Really good stuff here.
Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro discuss Siri with host Kelly Guimont: Both what Siri should keep to herself and team leadership changes.
A new website called AppleCensorship.com exposes how the company censors apps in China at the behest of the government.
A new website exposes the extent to which Apple cooperates with Chinese government internet censorship, blocking access to Western news sources, information about human rights and religious freedoms, and privacy-enhancing apps that would circumvent the country’s pervasive online surveillance regime.
I’m a fan of Apple, privacy, and Apple’s stance on privacy. That being said I think whenever Apple mentions privacy on its website there should be an asterisk with fine print saying: «We believe privacy is a fundamental human right except in these cases.»
LONDON – Kraken, the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency trading platform, has acquired UK crypto platform Crypto Facilities. The specific value of the deal is not known, but Yahoo Finance reported it is at least $100 million. This makes it one of the largest ever seen in the crypto industry, despite its current slowdown.
London-headquartered Crypto Facilities offers futures contracts for leading cryptos such as bitcoin and ethereum. Its data is also used to help calculate CME Group’s bitcoin reference rate. The company is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority. Kraken CEO Jesse Powell said in a release: “We are excited to introduce eligible clients to these industry leading futures and index products.
Populism has dramatically shifted global politics in recent years. Tech companies, particularly Amazon, have not been immune. Populism led to political pressure on the online retail giant, both in the U.S. and in India, as looked it searched for a second HQ and expanded into a new market. Bloomberg News looked at what happened.
Amazon thought it had secured a warm welcome in New York and forged strong political ties in India. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo pledged during the HQ2 bakeoff to change his first name to “Amazon” and threw all of his political weight behind the deal. In India, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos met repeatedly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in both Delhi and Washington and bragged on Twitter that he was “excited to keep investing and growing” in the country. In both cases, populism is now trumping politics. The political forces that are tilting elections and anointing new heroes on the left and right are now ensnaring one of the world’s largest companies.
National Parks use a distinct typeface, featuring round edges in all caps carved into wooden signs. And now you can download it.
Shellhorn, who was on sabbatical from his current job as an associate professor of design at the University of Kansas, was redesigning the park’s newspaper and wanted to include the type found on National Park signs. But he soon discovered there was no digital typeface because the letters are simply formed with a CNC router in the park’s sign shop, chiseled into wood. The shape of the letters were determined by the size of the router bit.
Although it sounds like the typeface wasn’t intentionally designed, it’s a good choice for signage because of the legibility due to all capital letters and wide kerning.
