Day: October 28, 2016

Posted on

As Standing Rock Protesters Face Down Armored Trucks, the World Watches on Facebook

“If any of these law enforcement shoot one of my people, it is going down, people,” Atsa E’sha Hoferer tells the camera on Facebook Live. “We are prayerful people.”

He gets cut off by the screaming of a long range acoustic device—a sound cannon, the kind used by police to break up protests in Ferguson, Missouri earlier this year. But even over the alarm, people watching on computers and phones can hear the soft voice of a protestor singing and strumming a guitar. The wind whips Hoferer’s bandana against his neck. A police bullhorn tells the protestors to move.

Though cellular connectivity on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota is limited, it is videos like this that first alert the world of what is going down. Twenty-six thousand people watch as the video pans out to show the front lines of the clash between law enforcement and Native Americans, who are protesting the creation of the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline. They fear that if the pipeline were to break, it would destroy drinking water. On one side, a line of law enforcement dressed in black, flanking two armored vehicles. On the other side, hay bales. Within minutes, the gap between the hay bales and trucks closes. Then the service cuts out. After a few frozen minutes, the stream ends. But at 2:30pm ET there remained many others ongoing.

Reports suggest that tensions between the people protesting the North Dakota Pipeline and law enforcement have been high in the past few days. Over a hundred protesters were arrested on Saturday. North Dakota’s Morton County Sheriff’s office explained that today’s operation is in response to “illegal roadblocks and protesters trespassing on private property near Highway 1806.” Native American activists don’t deny the roadblocks. “This is our stronghold,” activist Robby Romero told the LA Times earlier this week. “They will not cross this line.”

The Sheriff’s office told WIRED that law enforcement agencies from across the state and even surrounding states are helping break up the roadblocks. It was unclear if the the National Guard was also helping; representatives could not be reached for comment. In the video, a helicopter circles protesters on horseback.

Highlighting the power of cross-amplification between social networks, actress and high-profile activist Shailene Woodley took a screenshot of one of the Facebook livestreams and shared it on Twitter. People retweeted her tweet using the hashtag activists have adopted since the summer: #NoDAPL. At 3:30pm ET, only one livestream continued, from a local television news station. A few minutes later, Hoferer started his livestream up again. In the background, police on the bullhorn could be heard saying, “We need you to go the south line of the camp. We don’t want to make arrests.”

It’s a wonder any of these livestreams managed to happen at all. Cellular service at Standing Rock is reportedly abysmal. “It’s a blackout, from when it first started, because there is no communication,” Chief Looking Horse of the Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota Nations told WIRED last month at a meeting in New York. It wasn’t always like that, he explains. “We used to have our cell phones, but as soon as we took a stand there, they just shut us out,” he said. “You can’t even make calls from the cell phone from that camp. You have to go probably about 20 miles south to get service.” WIRED was not able to verify this claim.

Reception was demonstrably bad throughout the day, as Hoferer and others’ livestreams cut in and out. At the same time, the tech world was focused on news that Twitter is laying off hundreds of employees and shuttering its video-only service Vine. Today, Standing Rock once again makes plain that the immediacy of livestreaming and Twitter are vital news delivery services.

At 4:45pm ET, livestreaming shows law enforcement crossing the hay bale roadblock protestors have in the road. “My aunties and uncles are getting arrested down there,” Hoferer tells Facebook Live at 4:55pm ET. Police ordered him down from the truck he’s recording from. Before he signs off he yells to law enforcement, “20,000 people are watching you right now!”

Correction at 5:30pm ET: An earlier version of this story misidentified the armored vehicles as tanks.

Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.

from Wired Top Stories http://ift.tt/2eAzWdP
via IFTTT

Posted on

Microsoft Is Looking Like the New Apple

This week, one giant technology company looked like an innovator, launching a sleek new suite of forward-looking hardware to help media professionals work more effectively. Another added a row of buttons to an existing computer. In the past, Apple would have been the former—for the moment, at least, that role has shifted to Microsoft.

At an event in New York on Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled the sleek, futuristic-looking Surface Studio: a 28-inch all-in-one PC that converts into something akin to a digital drafting table. Reclined at about 20 degrees, it can be used with a dedicated stylus and so-called Surface Dial—a small puck that adds a mechanical means of interacting with the touchscreen.

Microsoft also launched a new set of tools to create art in 3-D, which the company imagines people will view using its Hololens. Or, perhaps, a VR headset, given that Microsoft also made good on its promise to help make the devices ubiquitous. It’s been working with HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus and Acer, and promised that all will soon all ship VR headsets for $300.

Microsoft’s Surface Studio is somewhere between a desktop computer and a futuristic drafting table.

Apple, meanwhile, showed off its latest hardware offering on Thursday: an updated version of its MacBook Pro laptop. With—drum roll, please—a new row of buttons. They are, admittedly, very smart buttons. Actually a slim second screen, they adapt depending on which program is being used, and there’s also Apple’s fingerprint-sensing TouchID built in to enable login, payments and other secure operations.

These, then are the hardware treasures that the two tech giants chose to show off on consecutive days. There is, to be sure, plenty of criticism to be levelled at Microsoft’s new offering: the Surface Studio is esoteric, undoubtedly a niche product, and costs an eye-watering $3,000. But Apple’s pricing isn’t exactly a thrift store option: the 15-inch notebook start at $2,400.

More important than price is what the announcements signal about what the companies are trying to achieve. Microsoft is now attempting to push the boundaries of what computing looks like, by trying to change the way we interact with desktop devices and providing the tools for us to become more involved with the virtual world.

Apple, meanwhile, appears to be stuck in a rut. As we’ve explained before, it seems to be struggling to look far beyond its existing products. Instead, it’s simply adding new features to already successful devices rather than reinventing our relationship with technology.

None of this is to say that Microsoft will succeed. Its new products are squarely aimed at the creative professionals that would typically buy Apple products, and winning them over will be a tough fight. But the status quo can only be challenged by products that don’t fit the existing mold. Just look at the iPad, which many thought would never go beyond a niche product when it first launched.

Or, if you’re Apple, perhaps look away from it instead.

(Read more: Wired, Gizmodo, “Intel and Microsoft Are Teaming Up to Make Virtual Reality Ubiquitous,” “Why Apple Can’t Match the iPhone’s Success”)

from Technology Review Feed – Tech Review Top Stories http://ift.tt/2fnkiDY
via IFTTT

Posted on

The FCC Passes New Rules to Protect Consumer Data From ISPs

In a 3-2 vote, the FCC just passed new rules targeting internet service providers who collect user data. Going forward, ISPs that collect data must get explicit permission from users before selling that data to third parties.

The new rules govern ISPs’ collection of data such as browsing history, app usage, and location data. While providers can use the data for their own targeting—for example, to offer suggestions for shows or products you might like from their own portfolio—they can’t sell that data to third-parties without getting permission from the user.

These new rules only apply to internet service providers like Comcast or AT&T, but not to the service you use online, like Google or Facebook. The two votes opposed to the ruling claimed that it was unfair to put this restriction on ISPs and not other internet companies. However, ISPs occupy a unique position on the data collection pipeline. Put simply, you can decide not to use Google, but many can’t choose to change their internet provider.

The FCC just passed sweeping new rules to protect your online privacy | Washington Post

Photo by Getty Images.

from Lifehacker http://ift.tt/2fmBSYm
via IFTTT

Posted on

Tesla doubles the energy density of its commercial batteries

While Tesla’s solar roof / Powerwall event isn’t until tomorrow, the product that preceded both, its commercial… cousin, Powerpack, has been upgraded and is already shipping to companies. The company says Powerpack 2 has double the energy density than the original model, paired with a new inverter (made at its Gigafactory), that’s apparently the lowest-priced, highest efficiency utility-scale inverter available. Arguably just as important, the new inverter also simplifies the installation process, with several once-separate components now baked into it.

Tesla’s blog calls the new system a "a cost-competitive alternative to other traditional utility infrastructure solutions". It adds that nearly 300 MWh of Tesla batteries have been deployed so far –including complexes in California. Now, where’s the solar part?

Source: Tesla

from Engadget http://ift.tt/2dO8vOF
via IFTTT

Posted on

Being worked to death? Study says high stress job and low job control can kill you

Feeling overworked, micromanaged, too much stress on your job, lack of flexibility AND have no control over decision making? Well, this just might be killing you…literally! But we already knew that…didn’t we? Apparently not, because studies exploring the association between work related risk factors and death have been largely absent from the literature.

from DailyTech News Feed http://ift.tt/2eNKTcr
via IFTTT