A Russian business magazine says it has uncovered details of "trolls" based in St. Petersburg used social media to try to spread discontent and disinformation during the 2016 U.S. election.
from NPR Topics: News http://ift.tt/2hSTPga
via IFTTT
For everything from family to computers…
A Russian business magazine says it has uncovered details of "trolls" based in St. Petersburg used social media to try to spread discontent and disinformation during the 2016 U.S. election.
from NPR Topics: News http://ift.tt/2hSTPga
via IFTTT
Kevin Hagen/Getty Images
Last week in the Russia investigations: Reports are growing about Russian-linked interference beyond the Web and in real life, three senators pitch a bill to tackle digital active measures and Big Tech says it’ll play ball in Capitol Hill’s big show on Nov. 1.
Accounts are piling up in which Russian influence-mongers evidently did more than interfere with Americans online last year — they also did so in person.
In New York and elsewhere, agents paid personal trainers to lead self-defense classes aimed at black activists with the message that they might need to “protect your rights,” as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. In Florida, they used Facebook and fraudulent websites to organize black rights protest rallies.
In Texas, scamsters organized at least one armed, anti-Muslim protest in Houston. And in Idaho, they helped organize anti-immigrant rallies.
Each passing week brings more such accounts as members of Congress, Justice Department investigators and tech companies look back at things they didn’t know to view as suspicious at the time. And each new story only adds to the frustration of Americans learning they were deceived.
“For any group to collude to take advantage of the pain and anguish that African Americans — or any group — are experiencing in this country in order to sow further discord is disappointing and revolting,” activist Raven Solomon told BuzzFeed.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are frustrated too.
Three senators are sticking their toe in the water: Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., and Democrats Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Mark Warner of Virginia have offered a bill. It would mandate that big social networks disclose the national origins of the buyers of political ads, and make their contents available to view at any time.
“First and foremost this is an issue of national security — Russia attacked us and will continue to use different tactics to undermine our democracy and divide our country, including by purchasing disruptive online political ads,” as Klobuchar said on Thursday.
Big Tech isn’t crazy about these potential regulations, however, and is expected to fight them inside Washington, D.C. Plus, the sponsors of the legislation concede on their own that the bill — even if it passed and was signed by President Trump — would only use a “light touch” with the big tech companies, and wouldn’t do anything on its own to stop Russia’s ongoing campaign of active measures.
Even so, Warner, who is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told NPR‘s Mary Louise Kelly that the least Congress could do is close the gap in requirements for foreign spending on old-style political ads and digital ones.
“In an era where $1.4 billion was spent on political advertising in the 2016 campaigns — and that number’s only going to go up — there needs to be equality between traditional radio and broadcast and social media and Internet political advertising,” he said.
For many lawmakers, the work is already done: Congress has already toughened sanctions against Russia in retaliation for its attack on the election and taken away President Trump’s ability to lift them without its approval. As to whether Capitol Hill does anything else to try to dissuade Russians or strengthen American elections, both chambers are waiting on the release of the Intelligence Committee’s full report about what happened.
When’s that going to be?
“Whether that’s done by the end of this year, or beginning next quarter it’s going to be tough to see it done by the end of this year,” Warner told Kelly. “We want to get this done as quickly as possible, but we’ve got to get to the facts.”
Expect to hear a great deal more about the way Russian influence-mongers used social media platforms at the much-discussed Nov. 1 hearings convened by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. Last week included a couple more developments on that score.
First, Google confirmed that it will send a representative to take part — the search and advertising behemoth had previously been reticent as to whether it would have anybody there.
Second, Google and the other two big players here — Twitter and Facebook — announced who specifically they’ll place in the hot seat: their top lawyers. Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch, acting Twitter General Counsel Sean Edgett and Google General Counsel Kent Walker, the companies said. That news was reported by Tony Romm of Recode.
Warner and other members of Congress mention these hearings every time they talk to anyone about the Russia imbroglio these days, but there’s no telling how it will go. Democrats may want a fireworks display. The Big Tech witnesses likely want to make as little news as they possibly can.
The Senate Intelligence Committee postponed a hearing scheduled for Oct. 25 with Donald Trump’s longtime attorney Michael Cohen. He was supposed to have appeared in public after the committee spiked a closed-door session last month — Cohen had issued a statement before his meeting even though he’d agreed not to discuss it.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Meaning what? There’s nothing nefarious about the Cohen hearing postponement, from what NPR understands. It appears to have simply been a calendar issue. Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said only that it would be “rescheduled at a later date.”
CIA Director Mike Pompeo told an audience in D.C. on Thursday that the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment about Russia’s attack on the election concluded that it did not alter the outcome, as Greg Miller reported in The Washington Post. Only that’s not what the “I.C.,” as spy types call it, said.
The assessment — a version of which you can read here — did not get into this question. American intelligence officers “do not analyze U.S. political processes or U.S. public opinion.”
Meaning what? Critics within the spy world told The Post this is yet more evidence that Pompeo is too political to be an honest spy boss — too close to President Trump. A CIA spokesman told The Post that Pompeo was nothing of the kind, and hadn’t meant to rewrite history or the IC report.
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer talked with investigators working for Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller on Monday, as Politico’s Annie Karnie and Josh Dawsey reported. Mueller’s investigators also have interviewed interim national security adviser Keith Kellogg, who followed retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn after his ouster, the correspondents write.
Karnie and Dawsey report that Mueller next wants to meet with White House communications director Hope Hicks and White House Counsel Don McGahn, but those sessions haven’t yet been scheduled.
Meaning what? Spicer has been described as a voluminous note-taker, always writing-writing-writing things down during the many meetings in which he participated. Mueller’s team likely wants not only to get Spicer’s verbal account of events that took place inside the White House but his contemporaneous notes. Axios reporter Mike Allen had a kerfuffle over this: Allen pinged Spicer to ask about the role his notes might play in the imbroglio, and Spicer told him to jump in a lake.
from NPR Topics: News http://ift.tt/2xWRCpT
via IFTTT
GIF
Still having a hard time finding a Nintendo Switch in stores? Or maybe you’re tired of waiting for Nintendo’s promised online store full of retro games? Tim Lindquist took things into his own hands and built a Nintendo Switch clone from scratch that can emulate games from over 50 classic systems.
The NES Classic Edition is almost perfect—short controller cords not withstanding—and if you can…
Lindquist spent his summer designing, engineering, and building his Nintimdo RP (slow clap) console which shares a lot of features with Nintendo’s Switch, including a generously-sized LCD screen flanked by (non-removable) controls on either side. He fully documented his project here, but you can get a better sense of what goes into making your own portable gaming console through this timelapse video Lindquist made.
The custom Nintimdo RP housing is thicker than the Switch’s, but that’s because it’s filled with off-the-shelf parts like a Broadcom BCM287 processor running Linux and emulators, a full cooling system, a massive 10,000 mAh rechargeable battery (the Switch’s is a mere 4,310 mAh) and a motherboard facilitating two USB ports and an HDMI port for playing games on a bigger screen.
According to Hackaday, Lindquist’s creation runs the RetroPie emulator, giving the console access to a massive library of classic video games, as well as EmulationStation so the Nintimdo RP’s home screen looks as slick as the Nintendo Switch’s does. We don’t know how much this homebrew console ended up costing Lindquist to build, but whatever the price tag was, the final results seem totally worth it.
[Nintimdo RP via Hackaday]
from Kotaku http://ift.tt/2ywl22s
via IFTTT
In-car entertainment will have to step up to accommodate our automated driving future. With an AI at the wheel, we’ll be free to watch movies, play games, and conduct video calls. It’s easy to imagine an all-round media player, like Plex, fitting into that scenario. For now, it’s making its way into regular cars, courtesy of Android Auto. Google’s in-car operating system is currently available in newer vehicles, head units, and as a mobile app. And, the next time you reach for its interface, you’ll have the option to stream your Plex music library. Okay, so that’s not the same as watching a 4K HDR flick, but it will have to suffice while your eyes are still needed on the road.
But, what if you already use the the Spotify app for Android Auto? Well, Plex is all about personalization. If you’ve somehow managed to amass a music library in the streaming era, and meticulously curated it into playlists, then this is a fine way to get it into your car. Plex supports virtually any file format (from AAC to FLAC), plus you’ll have access to playlists (including “recently played,” and “recently added”), and voice controls. With the latter, you can just bark ‘play Humble by Kendrick Lamar on Plex’ to get things started. You can even say self-explanatory things like ‘next song,’ ‘pause’ or ‘resume music,’ ‘play some music,’ or ‘play rock music.’
And, there’s the little extras that complete the experience, like the album artwork getting draped across the head unit and app interface. Plex for Android Auto will be available in supported vehicles and aftermarket stereos (and on the Android Auto app) over the coming days.
Related Video:
This article by Saqid Shah originally appeared on Engadget, your source for this connected world.
from Autoblog http://ift.tt/2hSByjg
via IFTTT
By now, we’re all clear on the concept of the double life, right? Well here’s another name for that roll call: Jason Battersby. The Canadian artist and designer grew up in Toronto, attended Umea Institute of Design in Sweden for his Masters in Transportation Design, and works in Munich – by day – as an automotive exterior designer at
Konzept Design in Munich. When not sketching vehicle lines suitable for the four rings, he lends his pen to Audi efforts like the
, the
, and the
. When Battersby clocks out for the day, he turns to designs like the TIE-X concept.
Conceived as “[Darth] Vader’s secret advanced Tie-Fighter project,” the handful of
ships in existence “were built to be the most agile in the Empire, carrying out secret missions for Vader across the galaxy.” Trigger warning: those of you who honor Star Wars cannon might retreat from your screens when you get to the TIE-X flanks and what look like four exhaust ports. For those who don’t know (which includes me –
), the “TIE” in TIE Fighter stands for Twin Ion
. The large, glowing aperture in the center of a traditional TIE Fighter is a Sienar Fleet Systems (SFS) I-a2b Solar Ionization Reactor. On either side of that is where you’ll find the two miniscule, glowing red exhaust ports for the SFS P-s4 Twin Ion Engine System. Behold the liberties taken with the TIE-X at your own risk. We recommend you enjoy every one of those liberties in the large gallery above.
Related Video:
from Autoblog http://ift.tt/2gtwQrH
via IFTTT
SINGAPORE — Singapore, one of the world’s most expensive places to own a vehicle, will not allow any growth in its car population from February, citing the small city-state’s land scarcity and billions of dollars in planned public transport investments.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it was cutting the permissible vehicle growth rate in the city-state to 0 percent from the current 0.25 percent per annum for cars and motorcycles. The rate will be reviewed in 2020.
Singapore tightly controls its vehicle population by setting an annual growth rate and through a system of bidding for the right to own and use a vehicle for a limited number of years. It is one of the most densely populated nations on the planet and already has an extensive public transport system.
Currently, 12 percent of Singapore’s total land area is taken up by roads, the LTA said. “In view of land constraints and competing needs, there is limited scope for further expansion of the road network,” it said.
Singapore, whose total population has risen nearly 40 percent since 2000 to about 5.6 million now, counted more than 600,000 private and rental cars on its roads as of last year. These include cars used by drivers that work with ride-hailing services such as Grab and Uber, which are becoming increasingly popular.
A mid-range car in Singapore can typically cost four times the price in the United States.
Singapore has expanded its rail network length by 30 percent and has added new routes and capacity in its bus network. The government will continue to invest S$20 billion ($14.7 billion) in new rail infrastructure, S$4 billion to renew, upgrade and expand rail operating assets, and another S$4 billion in bus contracting subsidies over the next five years, the LTA said.
The LTA will keep the growth rate for goods vehicles and buses at 0.25 per cent until the first quarter of 2021.
Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan
Related Video:
from Autoblog http://ift.tt/2zJQV5p
via IFTTT